{"id":129579,"date":"2026-08-04T21:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T21:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/129579\/"},"modified":"2026-08-04T21:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T21:49:09","slug":"apple-asks-judge-to-slam-breaks-on-openais-hardware-ambitions-latest-twist-in-high-stakes-suit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/129579\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple asks judge to slam breaks on OpenAI’s hardware ambitions, latest twist in high-stakes suit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Apple has asked<\/a> a federal judge to slam the brakes on OpenAI\u2019s hardware ambitions, leading the ChatGPT maker to fire back that the iPhone giant\u2019s own lawyers couldn\u2019t even email the right Asian executive<\/p>\n

The Cupertino, Calif.-based behemoth sought a preliminary injunction late Monday barring OpenAI and two former Apple staffers from accessing, using or sharing what it claims are stolen trade secrets<\/a>, warning the court it faces irreparable harm without one.<\/p>\n

Hours later, OpenAI hit back with a blistering blog post that branded the suit \u201ccareless, aggressive and oddly personal\u201d \u2014 and accused Tim Cook\u2019s Apple of botching basic facts.<\/p>\n

The Apple logo is illuminated at a store on April 2 in Munich. The firm accuses OpenAI of stealing corporate secrets. AP Photo\/Matthias Schrader<\/p>\n

Apple had claimed it warned OpenAI about the alleged theft in February and heard nothing back. Those charges were denied by the Sam Altman-led firm.<\/p>\n

OpenAI said Apple now admits its outside lawyers emailed the wrong man after mixing up two Asian surnames and the company only came clean once the artificial intelligence giant pointed out the blunder.<\/p>\n

\u201cApple had claimed that they contacted OpenAI in February and that we didn\u2019t respond. They now admit that their outside lawyers emailed the wrong person after confusing two Asian last names \u2014 only after we brought this to their attention,\u201d OpenAI said.<\/p>\n

Emails published by the company show Weil, Gotshal & Manges partner Gabriel Gross sent his warning letter to OpenAI general counsel Che Chang instead of a former Apple employee surnamed Wang.<\/p>\n

Gross also thanked Chang for a phone call that OpenAI says never took place, which is a claim it says Apple has since walked back.<\/p>\n

A baffled Chang forwarded the note to Apple\u2019s in-house lawyers, writing that he had never spoken to Gross and did not know who he was.<\/p>\n

OpenAI said that Apple\u2019s lawyers emailed the wrong Asian executive and only realized it once the Sam Altaman-led firm pointed it out. AndSus \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

Gross later apologized for the mix-up and said Wang had offered to cooperate. Then, OpenAI said, Apple went silent for five months \u2014 until the iPhone maker sued.<\/p>\n

Apple filed its bombshell complaint July 10 in the Northern District of California, accusing OpenAI of running a months-long scheme to loot its hardware secrets as the startup races to build its first consumer device.<\/p>\n

The suit names Chang Liu, a former senior system electrical engineer, and Tang Yew Tan, Apple\u2019s ex-vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch, who now leads OpenAI\u2019s hardware effort.<\/p>\n

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Apple claims Liu used a former colleague\u2019s laptop to siphon dozens of confidential hardware files after he quit, while Tan allegedly forwarded supplier details to his personal email and coached incoming hires on skirting Apple\u2019s exit process.<\/p>\n

OpenAI called the injunction request needless, insisting it neither holds nor wants any Apple secrets.<\/p>\n

The startup also released a trove of iMessages that it says flips Apple\u2019s story on its head. The texts show Apple employees pleading with Liu for help tracking down files and technical details after his final day \u2014 with one former colleague joking that Liu was \u201cthe best\u201d source, \u201ceven if you don\u2019t work here anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

OpenAI said any lingering access to Apple systems stemmed from the iPhone maker\u2019s own sloppy offboarding, which leaves departed workers connected to company files they never asked to keep.<\/p>\n

Apple demanded expedited discovery Monday, asking the judge to order depositions of Liu, Tan, OpenAI staffer Yu-Ting Peng and an unnamed fourth employee who once worked at Apple. groviapoto \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n

As for Tan, who spent 24 years at Apple, OpenAI said he has always told his team it must not touch confidential material from other companies.<\/p>\n

Apple also demanded expedited discovery Monday, asking the judge to order depositions of Liu, Tan, OpenAI staffer Yu-Ting Peng and an unnamed fourth employee who once worked at Apple.<\/p>\n

\u201cApple will be irreparably harmed absent a preliminary injunction,\u201d it said in a filing.<\/p>\n

OpenAI agreed to three of Apple\u2019s five demands \u2014 which included halting any future access, stopping any use and preserving evidence \u2014 but refused to let the tech giant\u2019s lawyers and forensic experts comb through its devices, drives and networks.<\/p>\n

The brawl carries huge stakes for both sides. More than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI, which analysts believe is developing a phone-like AI device that could lure consumers away from apps, as well and the iPhone itself.<\/p>\n

OpenAI defeated a separate legal challenge from Elon Musk\u2019s xAI <\/a>earlier this year.<\/p>\n

The Post has sought comment from Apple, OpenAI and Weil, Gotshal & Manges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Apple has asked a federal judge to slam the brakes on OpenAI\u2019s hardware ambitions, leading the ChatGPT maker…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":129580,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[319,309,140,2676,3027,157,370,781,3028],"class_list":["post-129579","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-openai","tag-apple","tag-business","tag-elon-musk","tag-future-tech","tag-iphone","tag-openai","tag-sam-altman","tag-tech","tag-tim-cook"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129579","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129579"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129579\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129579"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129579"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ai\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129579"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}