OpenAI alleges ex-employee carried over 100 product-plan files to Apple

OpenAI accuses a departed employee

OpenAI has accused a former employee of copying more than 100 internal files covering its product plans and taking them to Apple, according to The Verge. In a legal document filed Wednesday, first reported by Reuters, OpenAI claims the unnamed employee transferred the material to a personal account before joining Apple, and later presented it to Apple leadership — a group the filing says included the vice president of Apple's Asia operations.

The filing marks a new turn in an increasingly bitter dispute between the two companies over trade secrets. This time the accusation runs in the opposite direction from earlier claims: Apple has separately accused OpenAI of taking confidential documents and spying on hardware prototypes to advance its own products.

What the documents reportedly held

According to The Verge's account of the filing, the files are described as containing images of at least one unreleased device, supplier information, engineering data, project files, standards for cosmetic finishes, and reports on how hardware components are coated and sealed.

That level of detail is notable in itself. OpenAI is best known for its software and models, but the described documents point to physical hardware in development — enough to involve suppliers, engineering data and finish specifications. If the filing's description is accurate, it offers a rare public glimpse at device work OpenAI has never announced.

OpenAI connects the files to Apple's launches

OpenAI draws a direct line between the alleged presentation and Apple's product news this week. The company links its former employee's presentation to Apple's new HomeView smart display and the range of other devices it just revealed, arguing that the presentation appears to have happened months ago and that Apple is, in OpenAI's words, "armed with that information" as it makes a new push into AI-enabled products.

The Verge points to reasons for caution on that argument: Apple's product plans typically run on very long timelines, and its smart display had been rumored for years before it was announced. A presentation delivered months ago would be unlikely to have shaped devices already deep in development.

In the filing, OpenAI says it is "very concerned" that its confidential information is now circulating inside Apple, where Apple engineers could shape upcoming products based on OpenAI's work. Apple did not immediately respond to The Verge's request for comment.

Why it matters

The case shows how trade-secret litigation has become a two-way street at the top of the AI industry, with two of its biggest names each claiming the other gained an unfair competitive edge. It also underscores the legal risk created by employee mobility between rivals: a single hire can trigger allegations that sensitive product plans crossed a competitive boundary. And because OpenAI had to describe the taken files in its filing, the dispute has produced an unintended disclosure of its own — evidence that it has unreleased hardware, complete with supplier and manufacturing details, in the works. How courts weigh an alleged presentation to executives, rather than mere possession of files, could shape how similar disputes between AI and hardware giants are argued from here.