Apple's legal fight with OpenAI is spilling well beyond the courtroom. A week after suing the ChatGPT maker over alleged theft of its hardware secrets, Apple's lawyers have sent personal document-preservation letters to about 40 former Apple employees now working at OpenAI, according to the Financial Times - roughly 10 percent of the some 400 ex-Apple staff now at the company. The letters direct recipients to retain records and demand meetings with Apple's attorneys, FT reports, a breadth that signals the dispute could widen far past the two people named in the original complaint.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the Microsoft Build conference at the Seattle Convention Center Summit Building in Seattle in May 2024. | AFP-JIJIThe escalation builds on the blockbuster suit Apple filed July 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, accusing OpenAI, io Products, and former Apple personnel of misappropriating trade secrets to fast-track AI hardware development. As we reported at the time, the complaint lays out a months-long scheme centered on two former Apple employees now at OpenAI: Tang Tan, OpenAI's chief hardware officer and a former Apple VP of product design, and Chang Liu, a former Apple senior electrical engineer.
Apple alleges the pair directed OpenAI recruits still working at Apple to han
