OpenAI pushes back on Apple's trade secrets lawsuit

The polite tech partnership between Apple and OpenAI is officially over.

OpenAI pushed back on Tuesday against a trade secret theft lawsuit filed by Apple, calling the claims completely baseless.

“While we take these allegations seriously, we’re not aware of any evidence that this complaint has merit,” OpenAI said in a statement first shared by Bloomberg reporter Ed Ludlow. The company added that it believes in fair competition and employee freedom of movement.

A 41-page legal bomb

Apple filed the 41-page complaint last Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

The lawsuit accuses former Apple staff who jumped to OpenAI of a coordinated effort to steal proprietary information and intellectual property. Apple claims its internal investigation found clear evidence that OpenAI and its partners used confidential data to develop in-house hardware.

The highest-profile target in the complaint is Tang Tan, OpenAI’s chief hardware officer. Before joining OpenAI, Tan spent 24 years at Apple, ultimately serving as vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch.

In its immediate reaction on Friday, OpenAI told reporters it simply had no interest in trade secrets from other companies. By Tuesday, it went on the offensive, framing the dispute around fair hiring and workplace freedom.

The mystery screen-free companion

The tension comes down to one thing: OpenAI wants to build hardware that could rival the iPhone ecosystem.

OpenAI recently acquired io, the startup founded by former Apple design legend Jony Ive. Reports on Tuesday from Bloomberg revealed that the team is working on a mobile, screen-free smart speaker designed as a humanlike AI companion for the home.

The device reportedly features moving mechanical components and is being built by several veteran Apple engineers who previously worked on the iPhone and Mac lines.

Why it matters

This lawsuit proves that the battle for the next computing platform after the smartphone is turning ugly.

For consumers and developers, OpenAI’s hardware push is one of the most anticipated consumer tech bets in years. Everyone wants to see if an AI-first device can actually replace the screen-based habits built by the iPhone. By hiring Apple’s best industrial design talent, OpenAI is aiming directly at hardware perfection, not just software apps.

For the tech industry, this is classic playbook defense from Apple. When a former partner starts poaching your best talent to build a competing device, legal action is the fastest way to slow them down. Even if Apple doesn’t win outright, discovery and court proceedings can freeze product timelines.

OpenAI’s response is savvy by appealing to California’s pro-worker ethos of talent mobility. Still, we think hardware relies heavily on manufacturing secrets, tolerances, and supply chain methods that are notoriously easy to dispute in court. If this drag-out fight delays OpenAI’s hardware release, Apple already scored an early win.