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Apple is suing OpenAI, accusing its onetime AI partner of building a hardware business on stolen Apple trade secrets.

Some shit you should know before you dig in: Apple and OpenAI entered a high-profile partnership in 2024 to integrate ChatGPT into the iPhone, an announcement big enough that Sam Altman showed up at Apple headquarters for it. The relationship soured after OpenAI moved into Apple’s turf: it dropped roughly $6.5 billion last year on io Products, a hardware startup from Jony Ive, Apple’s former design chief. The move came as OpenAI pushes to build an AI-powered consumer device that analysts think could one day eat into iPhone sales. OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said in April that consumer hardware would come “towards the end of this year.” OpenAI’s ranks now include over 400 people who used to work at Apple, and Apple’s new Siri overhaul, which rolled out last month, runs on Google’s Gemini models rather than OpenAI’s technology. Reports emerged in May that OpenAI was itself exploring legal action against Apple over the partnership.

What’s going on now: The lawsuit, filed Friday in federal court in Northern California, names OpenAI, io Products, and two former Apple employees: Tang Tan, a 24-year Apple veteran who led iPhone and Apple Watch product design before becoming OpenAI’s chief hardware officer, and Chang Liu, a senior system electrical engineer who spent eight years at Apple before joining OpenAI in January.

The allegations are wild. Apple claims Tan directed job candidates still working at Apple to bring “Actual parts” to their OpenAI interviews for “show and tell” sessions, which surprised at least one candidate who said he “didn’t even know we could take those from the office.” Tan allegedly used an internal Apple project codename to ask a candidate “What’s the plan?” for an unannounced product, and possessed an internal Apple “Need to Know” document covering the company’s departure security protocols, distributing it to new OpenAI hires before they’d even given notice.

Liu, meanwhile, allegedly kept his Apple-issued laptop after leaving, exploited an authentication bug to access Apple’s internal network and download dozens of confidential hardware files, including over a thousand pages of technical documents, and joked about it in messages (“LOL,” “so funny”) while coaching a colleague on how to evade scrutiny on his own way out. Apple also alleges OpenAI got a trusted Apple supplier to carry out Apple’s proprietary metal finishing technique by misleading the supplier into believing it had Apple’s permission.

Apple says it raised concerns with OpenAI back in February and got no response, and calls the conduct detailed in the filing “the tip of the iceberg.”

OpenAI is brushing it off. In a statement, a spokesman said, “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”