OpenAI employee who left for Apple took files about unreleased device, OpenAI alleges (updated)

Apple

14/10/2026 16:48

    (Adds details from Apple filing, letter to OpenAI in
paragraphs 6-8)
    * Apple says it finds no evidence supporting OpenAI's
allegations
    * Filing alleges employee sent more than 100
unreleased-product files to a personal account
    * Judge lets Apple access some former employees' devices and
depose three on expedited schedule

    By Stephen Nellis and Deepa Seetharaman
       NEW YORK, Oct 14 (Reuters) - An OpenAI employee who left
the ChatGPT maker for Apple  AAPL.O  sent more than 100 files
about an unreleased product to a personal account and later
presented the product to senior Apple leadership, a new filing
in the lawsuit between OpenAI and Apple alleges.
    In the filing in US federal court in San Jose, California,
OpenAI alleged the presentation happened months ago and that
Apple is now making AI products of its own, citing the release
of Apple's HomeView product this week.
    "OpenAI is very concerned that its trade secret and
confidential information is now circulating inside Apple, where
Apple engineers can shape Apple’s upcoming products based on
OpenAI’s confidential and innovative work," OpenAI said in its
filing.
    Apple said it has policies and procedures in place to ensure
new employees do not use confidential information from previous
employers and it has found no evidence to support OpenAI's
allegations.
    The document, filed on Tuesday, is part of an ongoing trade
secret dispute filed by Apple earlier this year in which it
alleged employees of the iPhone maker left and took confidential
information to OpenAI's hardware division. OpenAI has denied
those allegations.
    The dueling allegations underscore the intensifying battle
between the two tech companies over talent and intellectual
property as OpenAI pushes into consumer hardware, a market long
dominated by Apple.
    In an October 12 letter to OpenAI, made public in another
court filing on Wednesday, Apple's lawyers said the two personal
phone numbers OpenAI identified as recipients of the files do
not match the number the employee uses for his Apple work, so it
appeared Apple did not have possession, custody or control of
data sent to those numbers while he worked at OpenAI.
    Apple's lawyers also said there was no evidence so far of
OpenAI files on Apple's servers based on Apple's investigation
into repositories associated with his work. Apple had not
learned of any presentation by the employee about unreleased
OpenAI products and asked OpenAI for more information, the
letter showed.
    In the court filing, Apple said OpenAI did not respond and
instead went to court. Apple said it will continue to work
with OpenAI to investigate the allegations.
    Earlier this week, US District Court Judge Edward Davila
granted part of Apple's request to get early access to digital
files from OpenAI in the suit. 
    Davila said Apple could gather data from some of its former
employees' devices and sit three of them for depositions on a
sped-up schedule, including the two defendants in the case —
Chang Liu, a former senior systems electrical engineer, and Tang
Yew Tan, a former vice president of product design for iPhone
and Apple Watch. 
    The case is likely to go to trial in October 2027, though
OpenAI has said in court filings that it could be ready for
trial as soon as June 2027.

    (Reporting by Stephen Nellis in New York and Deepa
Seetharaman in San Francisco, Ananya Palyekar in Bengaluru;
Editing by Franklin Paul, Bill Berkrot and Lincoln Feast.)
((stephen.nellis@thomsonreuters.com))