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SAN JOSE, Calif. (CN) — Apple filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on Friday, accusing former Apple employees of stealing trade secrets to give the artificial intelligence giant a competitive edge.
Apple filed a complaint in Northern California federal court detailing how it says two ex-employees breached their contracts and gave confidential information to OpenAI, one of the biggest AI companies in the world.
Apple says Chang Liu, a former senior engineer, used an Apple colleague’s computer authorization and “exploited a rare, previously unknown authentication bug to access Apple’s shared network folders,” after he failed to respond to requests to return his Apple work devices. Liu began working for OpenAI in January.
“Apple has invested hundreds of billions of dollars and decades of effort in developing groundbreaking consumer hardware products like iPhone, Apple Watch and MacBook, along with the business acumen and infrastructure to bring them to market at scale,” Apple says in its complaint.
Another former Apple employee, Tang Yew Tan, worked at Apple for 24 years, most recently as vice president of product design for iPhone and the Apple Watch. Tan is currently OpenAI’s chief hardware officer, and according to Apple, he tells potential candidates still working for the company to bring “actual parts” from Apple to their interviews for “show and tell” sessions with the OpenAI team.
“This is part of OpenAI’s strategy to extract Apple’s confidential information,” says Apple.
In a push to enter the products market, Apple says OpenAI “has resorted to taking unlawful shortcuts.”
Apple is suing the two former employees, OpenAI and its nonprofit arm OpenAI Foundation, along with io Products — a San Francisco-based AI hardware startup co-founded by Tan and acquired by OpenAI — over misappropriation of trade secrets under the Defend Trade Secrets Act. Additional claims include a breach of intellectual property against Liu and Tan.
Apple is asking the court for a preliminary injunction to stop the defendants from using its trade secrets and confidential information and for the former employees to return Apple’s property. Apple is also asking for damages, including monetary awards for OpenAI’s unjust enrichment, and demands a jury trial.
Apple representatives and OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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