OpenAI accuses employee who left for Apple of leaking plans for unreleased device

Apple has said it has policies and procedures to ensure new employees do not use confidential information from previous employers. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenApple has said it has policies and procedures to ensure new employees do not use confidential information from previous employers. Photograph: Andrew Harnik/Getty ImagesOpenAI accuses employee who left for Apple of leaking plans for unreleased deviceHours before Apple and the ChatGPT maker were due to face off in court, a new allegation delayed the showdown

An ⁠OpenAI employee who left the ChatGPT maker for Apple sent more than 100 files about an unreleased product to a personal ⁠account and later ⁠made a presentation ​about the unreleased 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 that 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.

The two companies were due to face off in court on Wednesday in an ongoing trade secrets lawsuit, but the new allegation delayed the showdown. OpenAI said it may file a countersuit based on the new claim.

Apple said that it has policies and procedures in place to ensure new employees do not use confidential information from previous employers and that 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 against OpenAI. The iPhone maker alleged its own employees left and took confidential information to OpenAI’s hardware ​division. OpenAI has denied those allegations.

Earlier this week, US district court judge Edward Davila granted part of Apple’s request for 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 system 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.