OpenAI says it's 'very concerned' that its trade secrets could help Apple's push into AI-enabled devices

OpenAI is escalating its trade-secrets fight with Apple on the heels of Apple announcing a family of smart home-focused devices.

The AI company alleged in a new legal filing that an unnamed former employee sent themselves "a hundred highly confidential files" on their last day with OpenAI in June. The files contained information about at least one unreleased device OpenAI is developing, the filing said. The AI company said the former employee worked at Apple for six months before joining OpenAI, and he is now back at Apple.

OpenAI said it's the company's understanding that the unnamed employee later briefed "Apple's senior leadership, including Apple's vice president of operations in Asia" about the AI company's product plans.

"That presentation appears to have happened months ago—and now, armed with that information, Apple is making a new push into AI-enabled products," OpenAI's lawyers wrote in the filing.

In a statement, Apple said it has found nothing to support OpenAI's claims. It said the filing on Wednesday is an attempt to distract from its own claims about own former OpenAI employees have stolen Apple's trade secrets.

The files, OpenAI said, contained "highly confidential engineering and manufacturing data about the device(s)" and "supplier information and project files, standards for cosmetic finishes, and reports regarding coating and sealing of hardware components."