OpenAI accuses employee who left for Apple of leaking plans for unreleased device

An ⁠OpenAI employee who left the ChatGPT maker for Apple sent more than 100 files about an unreleased product to a personal ⁠account and later ⁠made a presentation ​about the unreleased product to senior Apple leadership, a new filing in the lawsuit between OpenAI and Apple alleges.

In the filing ⁠in US federal court in San Jose, California, OpenAI alleged that the presentation happened months ago and that Apple is now making ⁠AI products of its own, citing the release of Apple’s HomeView product this week.

“OpenAI ​is very concerned that its trade ‌secret and confidential information is ‌now circulating inside Apple, where Apple engineers can shape Apple’s upcoming products based on OpenAI’s ‌confidential and innovative work,” OpenAI said in its filing.

The two companies were due to face off in court on Wednesday in an ongoing trade secrets lawsuit, but the new allegation delayed the showdown. OpenAI said it may file a countersuit based on the new claim.

Apple said that it has policies and procedures in place to ensure new employees do not use confidential information from previous employers and that it has found no evidence to support OpenAI’s allegations.

The document, filed on Tuesday, is part of a trade secret dispute ‌filed by Apple earlier this year against OpenAI. The iPhone maker alleged its own employees left and took confidential information to OpenAI’s hardware ​division. OpenAI has denied those allegations.