OpenAI has accused a former employee who returned to Apple of transferring more than 100 confidential files about an unreleased device to personal accounts and later presenting the company’s product plans to Apple executives. The allegations appeared in a filing submitted in federal court in San Jose on Oct. 14, hours before the companies were scheduled to address Apple’s trade-secrets lawsuit against OpenAI.
The filing says the employee joined OpenAI from Apple, worked there for six months and returned to Apple afterward. The files allegedly included detailed product images, engineering and manufacturing data, supplier information, project files, cosmetic-finish standards, and reports on hardware coatings and seals. Some were allegedly sent shortly after midnight in Singapore on June 2, the employee’s final day at OpenAI.
OpenAI also said it understood that the former employee had briefed Apple’s senior leadership, including the company’s vice president of operations in Asia. The presentation was said to have occurred months earlier. OpenAI asked the court for an opportunity to investigate and, if warranted, bring counterclaims, arguing that confidential information could now be available to Apple engineers working on AI-enabled products.
Apple denied finding evidence supporting the allegations and said it has procedures intended to prevent new employees from using confidential information belonging to former employers.
The new dispute unfolded as Apple’s existing case against OpenAI moved into expedited evidence collection. Apple alleges that former employees Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan took or accessed Apple information after joining OpenAI’s hardware effort; OpenAI has denied those claims. Liu previously worked as a senior systems electrical engineer at Apple, while Tan was a vice president involved in iPhone and Apple Watch design and is now OpenAI’s chief hardware officer.
Judge Edward Davila has allowed Apple accelerated access to materials from OpenAI’s recruiting and interview process involving former Apple employees, as well as certain private messages and depositions. The court approved depositions for Liu, Tan and Alyssa Peng, another former Apple employee now connected to the case, while declining some broader requests involving OpenAI’s research and development work.
The litigation reflects a broader shift from partnership to competition. Apple’s lawsuit is expected to continue toward a possible 2027 trial, while OpenAI’s new allegations could expand the case into claims involving the alleged movement of its own trade secrets.