OpenAI Blames New Apple HomeView In Trade Secret Fight

OpenAI filed new allegations Tuesday in its ongoing trade secret dispute with Apple, claiming a former employee who left to rejoin Apple sent more than 100 files describing an unreleased OpenAI product to a personal account on his last day at the company. 

According to the filing, made in San Jose federal court, the employee later gave a presentation built from that material to senior Apple leadership, including Apple’s vice president of operations in Asia. 

As The Guardian notes, Apple pushed back directly, saying it maintains compliance protocols to prevent any incoming leaks, and that its own review found zero evidence supporting OpenAI’s claims.

A Boomerang Employee Complicates Both Sides’ Story

This employee’s career path complicates the narrative. He originally moved from Apple to OpenAI, spent six months there, and then returned to Apple, according to the filing.

That revolving door complicates the narrative both companies have tried to present. 

Apple’s original lawsuit, filed earlier this year, alleged its own former employees left for OpenAI’s hardware division carrying Apple’s confidential information. OpenAI’s new filing essentially mirrors that claim in reverse. 

Two companies now accuse each other of the exact same conduct, involving employees who have crossed back and forth between them; determining who started the breach becomes nearly impossible.

The Timing Argument Leans on This Week’s Headlines

OpenAI’s filing ties that leak directly to Apple’s HomeView smart display, unveiled this week with Siri AI built in. 

Mentioning HomeView’s release as supporting evidence, OpenAI is arguing that the theoretical risk described in its filing has already become a real product sitting on store shelves. 

The filing does not prove the hardware came from those files, but the timing gives OpenAI a physical product to target instead of worrying about abstract future threats. 

Discovery Is Starting to Cut Both Ways

This filing landed the same week a federal judge gave Apple partial early access to OpenAI’s digital records as part of the broader case. 

Both sides are now trying to pull data from each other’s servers while accusing the other of doing the exact same thing behind the scenes. 

That legal detail gets buried under the bigger headlines, but it matters most. Judges do not hand out early evidence access unless they see smoke. 

Now that both tech giants are trading mirror-image accusations and digging through each other’s files, this fight stopped looking like a company protecting trade secrets and started looking like mutual paranoia. 

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