OpenAI CEO Sam Altman expressed admiration for Apple Inc. on Saturday, stating he is not afraid of the iPhone maker, even as the company faces a lawsuit accusing it of stealing trade secrets. Apple filed suit Friday in federal court in Northern California, alleging OpenAI misused confidential know-how to speed up its consumer-hardware plans. The lawsuit seeks damages and court orders to block the use of the allegedly taken information.

Apple's Allegations

The complaint frames the dispute as a significant shift from a 2024 partnership that integrated ChatGPT features into the iPhone's software. Apple claims the relationship cooled as OpenAI pursued hardware, specifically citing OpenAI’s $6.4 billion acquisition of IO Products, a startup led by former Apple designer Jony Ive. The lawsuit names OpenAI Chief Hardware Officer Tang Tan, a former Apple vice president, as a defendant.

Apple alleges that recruiting discussions were utilized to draw out confidential details from Apple employees interviewing for roles. The company also claims OpenAI encouraged departing Apple staff to bypass internal security procedures during their exits. Additionally, the suit names Chang Liu, a former Apple employee who joined OpenAI, alleging he took an Apple laptop. Apple further asserts that Tan asked candidates to bring physical Apple components into interviews for hands-on demonstrations to surface nonpublic information.

OpenAI's Response and Broader Legal Context

OpenAI responded through a spokesperson, denying any interest in other companies’ trade secrets and emphasizing its focus on building innovative technology. This legal challenge adds to OpenAI's existing troubles in a Manhattan copyright dispute brought by publishers led by The New York Times. In that case, publishers are asking the court to sanction OpenAI for allegedly withholding datasets and ChatGPT usage records, while also claiming that OpenAI compressed and deleted large volumes of conversation logs during the dispute.

Key Details of the Dispute

Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple claims OpenAI has hired roughly 400 people from Apple, a figure described as "a gigantic number." Gurman noted that Apple views the lawsuit as separate from the companies’ ChatGPT integration in Siri, though OpenAI has reportedly considered suing Apple over that arrangement. Meanwhile, Apple’s product planning appears to be shifting, with its next Siri upgrade slated for the fall and built on Alphabet Inc.’s Google’s Gemini models instead of ChatGPT.

The New York Times and several news organizations have escalated their copyright lawsuit against OpenAI by asking a federal judge in Manhattan to sanction the company. The publishers allege that OpenAI misled the court regarding its ability to identify copyrighted material within its artificial intelligence systems. According to court filings, the plaintiffs argue that OpenAI withheld critical datasets and ChatGPT usage records necessary to determine if copyrighted articles were used in violation of law.

The publishers contend that OpenAI deleted billions of conversation logs while simultaneously claiming it lacked the technical capacity to search its systems for specific content. They cite testimony from an OpenAI employee that contradicts the company's earlier representations during the discovery process, indicating that searches for the publishers' content were possible after all.

OpenAI has rejected these allegations, characterizing them as blatantly false. A spokesperson for the company stated that as the Times' case weakens and claims are dropped, the publishers are persisting in efforts to invade user privacy. OpenAI maintains that producing conversation records compromises privacy and that it will defend the principles of fair use.

The lawsuit, initially filed by The New York Times against OpenAI and Microsoft in late 2023, alleges the companies used journalism without permission to train AI models. Additional publishers have since joined the litigation, including MediaNews Group newspapers such as the New York Daily News and the Chicago Tribune, as well as Ziff Davis and the Center for Investigative Reporting.

Key Parties Involved

As part of the sanctions motion, the publishers are seeking attorney fees associated with what they describe as unnecessary efforts to obtain evidence that should have been produced during discovery. This legal battle is part of a broader trend of challenges from content creators regarding the application of copyright law to AI training data.