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.” In July, Apple sued OpenAI, alleging that the AI company engaged in “a coordinated pattern of misconduct at an institutional level” to steal its trade secrets.

OpenAI has denied wrongdoing and said it is not interested in Apple’s trade secrets.

In an August blog post, OpenAI blasted the “careless, aggressive and oddly personal lawsuit sadly doesn’t live up to that reputation.” In a legal filing, OpenAI poked at Apple’s perceived struggles amid the AI talent war.

On Tuesday, Apple announced HomeView, a $299 display and the company’s first smart home device, which is powered by Siri AI.

Apple also announced a host of smart home products it developed alongside LG Electronics and Schneider Electric.

Apple’s announcement highlighted how its AI systems could add to the devices, allowing a user to do everything from summarizing what’s happening in footage captured by an outdoor camera to automatically adjusting a thermostat when they enter a room.

OpenAI said it is worried that the information the employee took could be used by Apple. “OpenAI is very concerned that its trade secret and confidential information is now circulating inside Apple,” the company’s lawyers wrote, “where Apple engineers can shape Apple’s upcoming products based on OpenAI’s confidential and innovative work.” In referencing Apple’s ambitions, OpenAI’s lawyers linked in a footnote to the tech giant’s collection of new devices, including HomeView.