{"success":true,"data":{"id":"749c8b36-fa8c-4202-ac98-df10fd72b032","title":"Apple sues OpenAI alleging trade secret theft, says scheme was 'at every level'","summary":"BREAKING Apple sues OpenAI alleging trade secret theft, says scheme was ‘at every level’ Apple sues OpenAI alleging trade secret theft, says scheme was ‘at every level’ Apple sues OpenAI alleging trade secret theft, says scheme was ‘at every level’ 0 seconds of 0 seconds Volume 90% Press shift quest...","content":"BREAKING [Apple sues OpenAI alleging trade secret theft, says scheme was ‘at every level’](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/10/apple-openai-lawsuit-trade-secrets.html)\n\nApple sues OpenAI alleging trade secret theft, says scheme was ‘at every level’\n\n0 seconds of 0 seconds Volume 90%\n\nPress shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts\n\nKeyboard Shortcuts Enabled Disabled\n\nPlay/Pause SPACE\n\nIncrease Volume↑\n\nDecrease Volume↓\n\nSeek Forward→\n\nSeek Backward←\n\nCaptions On/Off c\n\nFullscreen/Exit Fullscreen f\n\nMute/Unmute m\n\nSeek %0-9\n\n1x 1.5x 2x\n\nListen< 1min\n\nLive\n\n00:00\n\n00:00\n\n00:00\n\n2x 1.5x 1x\n\nKey Points\n\n*   Apple has sued OpenAI in federal court in Northern California, alleging trade secret theft.\n*   The iPhone maker alleges that the AI lab took Apple’s intellectual property in order to develop its own consumer hardware.\n*   It’s a shocking reversal for the two companies, which entered into a high-profile partnership in 2024.\n\nIn this article\n\nFollow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT\n\nThe Apple Park campus stands in this aerial photograph taken above Cupertino, California, U.S., on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2019.\n\nSam Hall | Bloomberg | Getty Images\n\n[Apple](https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/AAPL/) on Friday sued [OpenAI](https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/OPENAI.FG/) in federal court in Northern California, alleging trade secret theft, saying that the [artificial intelligence](https://www.cnbc.com/ai-artificial-intelligence/) lab took the [iPhone](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/11/heres-how-much-a-made-in-the-usa-iphone-would-cost.html) maker’s intellectual property in order to develop its own consumer hardware.\n\n“This much is clear, however: at every level, from members of its Technical Staff to its Chief Hardware Officer, and in coordination with business partners, OpenAI has been stealing Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information,” the company said in a legal filing.\n\nIt’s a shocking reversal for the two companies, which entered into a high-profile partnership in 2024 when ChatGPT was integrated into the iPhone’s operating system. OpenAI CEO [Sam Altman](https://www.cnbc.com/sam-altman/) visited Apple’s headquarters for the announcement.\n\nBut relations between the two companies have chilled since OpenAI announced plans to enter the hardware industry last year, when it bought former Apple designer [Jony Ive](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/21/openai-buys-iphone-designer-jony-ive-device-startup-for-6point4-billion.html)’s startup, called IO Products, for $6.4 billion.\n\nApple’s updated version of its Siri assistant, which is coming out this fall, is based on [Google](https://www.cnbc.com/quotes/GOOGL/)’s Gemini AI models instead of ChatGPT.\n\nMost of Apple’s allegations involve former employees who have interviewed with or joined OpenAI.\n\nApple alleged that OpenAI’s chief hardware officer, Tang Tan, who is a[former Apple vice president](https://thetech.com/2025/10/30/tang-tan-openai), has directed Apple employees interviewing at OpenAI to share Apple secrets as part of the interviewing process. Tan is named as a defendant in the suit.\n\n“He has directed job candidates still working for Apple to bring ‘actual parts’ from Apple to their interviews for ‘show and tell’ sessions in which he and his team at OpenAI can elicit still more Apple confidential information,” Apple said in the filing.\n\nApple alleged that OpenAI coached departing Apple employees in how to evade security processes when leaving the iPhone maker, and that Chang Liu, a former employee who joined OpenAI, stole an Apple laptop. Liu is named as a defendant in the suit.\n\nIt also said that Apple believes that OpenAI is asking hardware firms to carry out a metal finishing technique that Apple invented, while “misleading the partner to believe they had Apple’s permission to do so.”\n\n“Recently, significant evidence has emerged suggesting individuals employed by OpenAI wrongfully took Apple’s secret and confidential information regarding our unreleased technologies, processes, and products,” an Apple representative told CNBC in a statement.\n\nIO Products is also named in the lawsuit.\n\nOpenAI hasn’t announced when or what its hardware products will be, but Altman said in November that it had [finished](https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/24/openai-hardware-jony-ive-sam-altman-emerson-collective.html) its first prototypes.\n\nApple did not comment on whether the lawsuit will affect the partnership with OpenAI in which the lab’s ChatGPT is integrated into Apple Intelligence.\n\nApple is seeking damages, injunctions, and an order to force OpenAI to stop using its trade secrets.\n\nwatch now\n\nVIDEO 1:47 01:47\n\nApple shares move higher despite losing ground in China","source_name":"CNBC","source_url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/10/apple-openai-lawsuit-trade-secrets.html","url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2026/07/10/apple-openai-lawsuit-trade-secrets.html","author":"Unknown Author","author_name":"Unknown Author","published_at":"2026-07-10T20:38:26.000Z","publication_date":"2026-07-10T20:38:26.000Z","image_url":"https://static-redesign.cnbcfm.com/dist/d6085c9e81f4d7365c8d.svg","category":"ai","topic":"ai","tags":[],"political_bias":null,"bias_score":null,"confidence_score":null,"credibility_score":null,"factual_quality":null,"reading_time":4,"word_count":634,"view_count":0,"breaking":false,"breaking_news":false,"ai_analysis":null,"fact_check_status":"unverified","archive_status":"hot"}}