Apple Widens OpenAI Trade Secrets Probe — 11 More Ex-Employees Under Scrutiny

Apple escalates its trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI, revealing 11 additional former employees may be involved and seeking a preliminary injunction to halt product development.

Apple filed a new motion seeking a preliminary injunction in its trade secrets case against OpenAI, requesting expedited discovery that now reaches beyond the two former employees named in the original July complaint.

The iPhone maker says its investigation has uncovered 11 additional former Apple employees who may have been witnesses or otherwise involved — including one who allegedly shared proprietary information about unannounced products with the accused before an OpenAI interview, and another who took screenshots of confidential documents.

Apple is also widening its discovery to include io, the hardware startup co-founded by Apple's former lead designer Jony Ive. The company claims multiple ex-employees now at OpenAI reached out after the initial filing to discuss returning Apple-issued work devices they'd kept.

OpenAI fired back in a blog post, calling Apple's injunction request "based on false information and completely unnecessary because we do not have, nor want, any of their trade secrets." The AI company also pointed to Apple's own security lapses, including emailing the wrong person during its investigation.

The original lawsuit, filed July 10, accused OpenAI of a "coordinated pattern of misconduct at an institutional level" to steal trade secrets for building its own AI hardware.

Sources: TechCrunch, AP News, HN Discussion (233 points, 174 comments)