Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on Friday, alleging that a former engineer exploited a server authentication bug to download confidential hardware files for weeks after leaving the company, and that the theft is part of a broader recruiting scheme that has drawn more than 400 ex-Apple employees to OpenAI. The complaint seeks court injunctions to block OpenAI from using the allegedly misappropriated material as it builds AI-powered consumer devices.

What Exactly Did the Former Engineer Access?

The central figure in Apple's filing is Chang Liu, an engineer who spent 8 years at Apple on sensitive product programs before joining OpenAI in January 2026. According to the complaint, on February 9, Liu discovered an authentication bug on an Apple-issued work laptop he had not yet returned, which gave him continued access to Apple's shared network folders. Over several weeks, he allegedly downloaded dozens of confidential files covering unreleased products, engineering presentations, technical specifications, and proprietary project data.

Among the downloaded items was a presentation on Apple's complex circuit board designs that Apple says would be "invaluable to anyone developing hardware." Some files were explicitly marked confidential. Apple discovered the alleged theft while reviewing messages between Liu and a then-current Apple employee, Yu-Ting "Alyssa" Peng, in which Liu appeared to mock the company he had just left, writing: "I found out I can access the [network storage], so funny".

How Does OpenAI's Hardware Leadership Connect to the Allegations?

Apple's complaint identifies Tang Yew Tan as the architect of what it describes as a coordinated recruiting scheme. Tan spent 24 years at Apple as vice president of product design for the iPhone before joining Jony Ive's io Products and then becoming OpenAI's chief hardware officer in 2025. According to the filing, Tan used insider knowledge, including secret project code names, to steer Apple employees into discussing unreleased products during interviews.

The complaint also alleges that Tan asked candidates to bring computer parts to "show and tell" sessions designed to reveal proprietary technology beyond what reverse-engineering could uncover. Apple argues these practices, combined with the Liu-Peng messages, represent the "tip of the iceberg" and that discovery will reveal a broader pattern of trade-secret theft by ex-Apple staff now inside OpenAI.

What Are the Key Claims in Apple's Legal Filing?

• Scope of Recruitment: Apple alleges that OpenAI has poached more than 400 former Apple employees as part of a coordinated scheme to build its hardware business.
• Technical Exposure: Apple says the authentication bug has since been patched and that server logs show no other users exploited it to take confidential information, confining the technical breach to Liu's actions.
• Systemic Pattern: Apple claims the alleged theft involves coordination "at every level, from members of its Technical Staff to its Chief Hardware Officer," and that OpenAI's hardware business is "rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets."

Apple also concedes it "lacks visibility into what's been happening behind closed doors at OpenAI," suggesting the company believes the discovered evidence represents only part of a larger pattern.

How Has OpenAI Responded?

OpenAI told Ars Technica it is still reviewing the complaint but denies the core allegations. Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, responded on X over the weekend to a post suggesting OpenAI was rattled by the suit, stating: "I am not afraid of Apple, but I have tremendous respect for them".

Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO

OpenAI has not yet filed a formal legal response to the complaint. The company's hardware ambitions, built around Ive's io Products acquisition and Tan's team, are moving from rumor toward roadmap, making the timing of the litigation particularly significant for the company's near-term plans.

What Are the Legal Challenges Apple Faces?

Apple has taken this kind of fight before with mixed results. It settled a long-running dispute with Samsung in 2018 and dropped a chip design case against Nvidia in 2023. The evidentiary bar for trade-secret claims is high, and it remains unclear how much of what allegedly changed hands qualifies as proprietary versus the sort of general engineering knowledge employees carry between jobs.

Bringing computer parts to hardware interviews, for instance, is a common industry practice, which could complicate Apple's argument that Tan's "show and tell" sessions represent illegal conduct. The strongest exhibits Apple has surfaced so far are the messages left on Liu's returned laptop, which include coaching Peng on how to "avoid trouble" when she left Apple and how to prepare for OpenAI interviews without repeating mistakes made by ex-Apple staffers who "fumbled" by failing to volunteer insights into top-secret projects.

Whether those chats amount to a coordinated theft ring or a pair of employees behaving badly on a work laptop is the question a court will now have to sort out. Even if Apple never wins a verdict, the litigation gives it a tool it did not have before: subpoena power over OpenAI's hiring pipeline, internal communications, and hardware design process at the exact moment OpenAI is trying to move fast. For OpenAI, the case raises the cost of every future hire from Cupertino and forces its hardware team to document a clean-room provenance for anything that ships, creating a real tax on speed.