Apple filed a lawsuit on Friday against OpenAI, accusing a number of its former employees of leaking confidential information to the creator of the “GBT Chat” program after they were employed by it.
This lawsuit represents a serious escalation in tensions between the two companies, which entered into a partnership in 2024 to integrate “GPT Chat” into Apple products.
Their relationship deteriorated significantly since then.
The lawsuit, which was filed in federal court in San Jose, California, indicated that OpenAI followed a “strategy to obtain confidential information” from Apple.
An OpenAI spokesman confirmed in a statement that the company “is not interested in the confidential information of other companies,” indicating that it is still investigating these accusations.
In addition to OpenAI, two former Apple executives are being pursued in the lawsuit: Tang Tan, co-founder of the startup iO Broadcast, and Jony Ive, the former Apple product designer.
“OpenAI” acquired “iO Broadcast” in May 2025 for $6.5 billion, in a move aimed at diversifying the company’s business, which plans to launch a group of devices based on artificial intelligence by 2027.
According to Apple, Tang Tan took internal documents with him when he left the company in 2024.
The lawsuit stated that Tan, who currently heads the physical products division at OpenAI, is seeking to obtain additional data from Apple employees who are applying for jobs at OpenAI.
