OpenAI says a staffer took device files back to Apple

OpenAI alleges in a new court filing, reported by Reuters, that a former employee sent over a hundred highly confidential files to his personal accounts. The files include detailed images of at least one unreleased device, standards for cosmetic finishes and reports on coating and sealing hardware components. The employee had come from Apple, and he went back there.

At a glance

• The case now runs in both directions: Apple sued OpenAI in July over alleged trade secret theft, and OpenAI's new filing accuses a returning Apple hire of the same thing.
• Per OpenAI, the files left on June 2, 2026, the employee's final day after six months at the company, and he later presented OpenAI's plans to Apple's senior leadership.
• Apple told Reuters it has found no evidence supporting the claims, and OpenAI says Apple has not given assurances that it neither holds nor uses the material.

The two companies started as partners. According to CNBC, ChatGPT was integrated into the iPhone's operating system in 2024. Relations chilled after OpenAI bought Jony Ive's startup IO Products for $6.4 billion to enter hardware, and Apple sued OpenAI in federal court in Northern California on July 10, 2026. In August, Apple said an early forensic analysis of a laptop used by a former engineer who left for OpenAI had turned up what it called "shocking evidence."

The files left on June 2, 2026, the employee's last day at OpenAI

The filing does not name the employee. It says he joined OpenAI from Apple, worked there for six months and has now returned to Apple. OpenAI says it learned about the files through a recent and ongoing forensic investigation arising from the lawsuit, and that they went to his personal accounts on June 2, 2026, his final day.

The inventory is specific. Beyond detailed images of the unreleased device or devices, OpenAI lists highly confidential engineering and manufacturing data, supplier information, project files, standards for cosmetic finishes and reports on the coating and sealing of hardware components. The filing puts the count at over a hundred files about at least one unreleased device under development.

OpenAI says the employee briefed Apple's vice president of operations in Asia

According to the filing, the employee also made a presentation about OpenAI's plans to Apple's senior leadership, including Apple's vice president of operations in Asia. OpenAI writes that the presentation appears to have happened months ago, and that Apple, armed with that information, is now making a new push into AI-enabled products.

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 says it has raised the issue with Apple directly, and that Apple has not, to date, provided the requested assurances that it is not in possession of, and has not used, OpenAI's trade secrets and confidential information. For context on Apple's AI plans, CNBC reports that Apple's updated Siri, coming this fall, is based on Google's Gemini models rather than OpenAI's technology.

Apple says it found no evidence and has policies for new hires

Apple's answer, as reported by Reuters, is that it has found no evidence to support OpenAI's allegations. The company says it has policies and procedures in place to ensure that new employees do not use confidential information from previous employers, which is the safeguard OpenAI's filing says was bypassed.

OpenAI answered Apple's original suit with a denial of the same shape: "We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere." Each company now denies taking the other's secrets while accusing the other of doing exactly that through people who changed employers.

Apple's July suit names hardware chief Tang Yew Tan and engineer Chang Liu

Apple's suit names Chang Liu, a former senior system electrical engineer at Apple, and Tang Yew Tan, OpenAI's hardware chief and formerly Apple's vice president of product design for iPhone and Apple Watch. OpenAI Foundation, OpenAI Group PBC and io Products are also defendants.

Apple alleges Tan emailed himself information about Apple suppliers and internal industry summaries before leaving, and encouraged candidates still at Apple to bring actual parts to interviews for show-and-tell sessions. According to USA TODAY, Apple also alleges Liu kept a company laptop and later used an authentication bug to download dozens of confidential hardware files. The same outlet reports Apple's note that more than 400 former Apple employees now work for OpenAI.

CNBC adds that Apple accuses OpenAI of coaching departing Apple employees on evading security processes. Apple also says OpenAI asks hardware firms to use a metal finishing technique Apple invented, while misleading those partners into believing it had Apple's permission.

Both sides lean on forensic reviews of what left company systems

Apple's August claims came from an analysis of a laptop. OpenAI's new ones come from what it calls a recent and ongoing forensic investigation. In plain terms, such a review reconstructs from device and account records which files were opened, copied or sent, when, and to which address.

Think of it as the badge log at an office door. It can show who walked out with a box and at what moment, but it cannot show what happened to the box afterwards. That is why the June 2 transfer and the later presentation to Apple's leadership are two separate claims in OpenAI's filing.

The filing leaves real gaps. OpenAI names neither the employee nor the device, its investigation is still ongoing, and the link between the files and Apple's new AI push appears to rest on timing rather than on material found inside Apple. Oddly, for a document this precise about file types, it commits only to "at least one" unreleased device.

Whether Apple signs the assurances

The next marker is whether Apple gives OpenAI the assurances it has asked for, or the court ends up weighing both companies' forensic records. No hearing or ruling date for either side's claims has been given. Analyst Paolo Pescatore told USA TODAY the case could delay OpenAI's hardware ambitions even if the allegations are not proven, and OpenAI has not announced a launch date for the device described in the files.