Apple Targets 40 Former OpenAI Employees

Apple has sent legal letters to roughly 40 former employees who left for OpenAI, escalating a dispute over allegedly stolen trade secrets as OpenAI prepares to enter the hardware market. The letters reportedly ask recipients to preserve documents and correspondence and meet with Apple’s lawyers, according to the Financial Times.

The move follows Apple’s lawsuit last week in a federal court in California. The company accused OpenAI and two former employees of using confidential information related to manufacturing processes and products that have not yet reached the market.

In its complaint, Apple alleges that OpenAI Chief Hardware Officer Tan Tan, who previously worked at Apple, encouraged job candidates to bring “real details” from Cupertino to interviews. The case also names Chan Liu, a former senior Apple electrical-systems engineer. Apple claims Liu left the company with a laptop and uploaded dozens of confidential files.

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OpenAI told Reuters that it has no interest in other companies' secrets. CEO Sam Altman wrote on X that he was not “afraid” of Apple. Elon Musk also entered the dispute, calling Altman a fraud.

Why the dispute is moving into hardware

The conflict reflects OpenAI’s broader shift beyond model software. The company is pursuing its own devices, putting it closer to Apple, Google, and Amazon—companies that have spent years controlling access to consumer electronics.

OpenAI previously helped other devices “think.” Now it wants to sell the hardware through which users interact with its models. Apple argues that the former employees involved understand how products are designed and manufactured, and may have taken more than ordinary résumés and portfolios with them.

The companies' relationship had already become complicated. In 2024, Apple agreed to integrate ChatGPT into its devices. This year, Apple also began moving Siri toward Google’s Gemini models. Meanwhile, OpenAI acquired io Products, the hardware startup founded by former Apple chief designer Jony Ive, for $6.5 billion. Apple named io Products in its lawsuit as well.

OpenAI’s rumored devices

The stakes are higher because of expectations around OpenAI’s first major consumer device. According to Bloomberg, OpenAI and io Products are developing an screenless smart speaker that could move around the home, play music, control connected devices, answer questions, and perform other tasks through ChatGPT. Bloomberg reportedly expects its launch in 2027.

The planned device is described as a “human-like” AI companion rather than a conventional speaker. Its reported capabilities include:

• No screen
• Smart-home control
• Music and media playback
• Answers and actions through ChatGPT

OpenAI has already taken a smaller step into hardware. This week, it released a $230 mini-keyboard designed for use with its Codex coding agent. The product is modest, but it signals that the company is building a dedicated hardware layer rather than merely testing new form factors.

Apple’s legal letters could help it gather evidence for court while signaling that it views the dispute as a potential leak of commercial secrets—not simply a noisy hiring fight. If OpenAI’s first device arrives in 2027, the legal battle could still be active when investors and partners start asking what supports the company’s hardware ambitions.