Chance Miller, reporting for 9to5Mac:

Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI today, accusing the company of trade secret theft. Specifically, Apple alleges that its former employees have stolen trade secrets “for the benefit of OpenAI.”

“This case is about Apple’s former employees stealing Apple’s trade secrets for the benefit of OpenAI. Apple brings this suit to put a stop to it,” the lawsuit says…

The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleges that Tan used insider knowledge of Apple’s confidential projects to grill job candidates in interviews. Additionally, Tan directed job candidates still working at Apple to bring actual Apple hardware components and samples for “show and tell” sessions.

Furthermore, Apple says a candidate began “screenshotting and downloading files relating to a highly confidential Apple project” hours before interviewing with Tan, who then “solicited more information about that same Apple project” once the interview started. This became an “established pattern,” Apple says.

Tan also allegedly possessed and distributed an internal Apple “Need to Know” document to new OpenAI hires before they gave their notice to Apple. The document included Apple’s departure security protocols. As part of its investigation, Apple found a “pattern by employees who depart for OpenAI of taking steps to evade the security processes intended to protect Apple’s confidential information.”

I read the full complaint. Some notes:

  • Chang Liu, an ex-Apple employee who now works for OpenAI, allegedly (a) failed to return all of his company-provided devices before he left, (b) used an exploit to access Apple’s internal files, and (c) downloaded them while working for OpenAI.

  • Tang Tan, OpenAI’s chief hardware officer — and Jony Ive’s right-hand man at OpenAI’s “io” hardware division — allegedly tells potential employees during interviews to bring in unreleased Apple hardware for “show and tell.” And as Miller notes, Liu and other ex-Apple employees suggested new hires “prepare” for their OpenAI interviews by studying unreleased Apple products.

  • Tang and Liu only got caught after they used work-provided devices to — in some cases — brag about their actions.

  • Over 400 ex-Apple employees work at OpenAI.

  • OpenAI allegedly contacted an Apple hardware supplier and asked them to “perform Apple’s proprietary, trade secret processes for OpenAI’s benefit.”

I’m not really surprised at any of this. There seems to be bad blood between the two companies — OpenAI’s models weren’t spoken about once during the Worldwide Developers Conference State of the Union in June — and OpenAI had been loosely threatening legal action even before WWDC. Moreover, OpenAI has never come across as a particularly honest corporation. Sam Altman, its chief executive, is a seasoned liar and manipulator; OpenAI employees are known for being narcissistic online; and the company doesn’t seem to attract very honest, forthcoming fans or workers.

But it does seem illuminating that OpenAI has such an inflated image of itself that it thought it could successfully evade one of the most litigious and secretive companies in the world. Apple does not let such behavior go unpunished — it never has and it never will. Everyone knows not to mess with Apple Global Security, except, clearly, OpenAI. The OpenAI people clearly have become accustomed to a privileged position where they feel untouchable. They were handed an inconceivable amount of free cash and thought it could protect them from anything, including immoral and illegal behavior. Maybe it will, but it doesn’t seem likely.

The only solution to OpenAI’s immoral behavior — and there are so many instances of it — is to force them to start turning a profit. It will happen eventually; the investors will get tired of losing money, and they’ll put pressure on the company. Perhaps this lawsuit is a step closer to that reality.