We Do Not Have, Nor Want, Any of Their Trade Secrets, the Chatgpt Maker Wrote Monday Evening, Accusing Apple of "Making Vague Accusations"

We do not have, nor want, any of their trade secrets, the ChatGPT maker wrote Monday evening, accusing Apple of "making vague accusations" and "trying to change their narrative. The post escalates a dispute that began last month when Apple sued, alleging OpenAI stole hardware designs for its planned AI-focused consumer devices. The companies have encroached on each other's turf, with OpenAI moving into consumer products and Apple partnering with Google to revamp Siri.

Their relationship soured after OpenAI acquired io, the design studio founded by former Apple design chief Sir Jony Ive, and hired many Apple employees. Apple's lawsuit claims over 400 former employees now work at OpenAI and that it received no response in February after warning of an internal investigation into potential trade-secret theft. OpenAI said Apple's lawyers "emailed the wrong person after confusing two Asian last names" and "claimed they had a discussion with our General Counsel, which they now concede never happened.

The start-up added that Apple "never raised the specific allegations in this lawsuit at that time" and "in fact told us that they were 'resolving any issues. We then heard nothing for five months until they sued. Apple's suit names Chang Liu, a former employee who accessed trade secrets after leaving in January, and Tang Tan, OpenAI's chief hardware officer, accused of seeking proprietary info while interviewing Apple staff.

OpenAI said Apple employees had contacted Liu "and asked for his help to locate this information, something Apple "only now admits. On Monday, Apple sought a preliminary injunction to block former employees and OpenAI from using its trade secrets and filed a motion to expedite discovery and depose Liu and Tan. OpenAI called the injunction request "based on false information and completely unnecessary.

Apple is one of the greatest companies of all time, and built a reputation for obsessing over the smallest details. This careless, aggressive and oddly personal lawsuit sadly doesn't live up to that reputation, the ChatGPT maker wrote. Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.