Apple sues OpenAI alleging former Apple employees shared hardware secrets
Apple just sued OpenAI, claiming two former Apple employees took secret hardware info and shared it without permission.
According to the lawsuit filed on July 10, 2026, in the Northern District of California, one person accessed confidential files using someone else's laptop, while another sent supplier details to their personal email.
Apple says this could cause "Apple will be irreparably harmed absent a preliminary injunction," if OpenAI gets or spreads these secrets.
OpenAI denies accusations, cites iMessage evidence
OpenAI denies the accusations, calling them "careless," and points out that Apple made a big mistake by emailing the wrong person because of similar names.
To defend itself, OpenAI even released iMessages showing Apple staff asking an ex-employee for help finding files after he'd left, suggesting some offboarding confusion on Apple's part.
OpenAI insists it hasn't used any of Apple's secrets and refused to hand over full system access.
This case matters because OpenAI is rumored to be working on hardware that could compete with Apple's own products.