Apple accuses OpenAI, and former design star Jony Ive’s io Products firm, of stealing hardware trade secrets in blockbuster lawsuit
Apple sued OpenAI on Friday for allegedly stealing its trade secrets, an extraordinary move that pits the $4.6 trillion iPhone maker against the fast-growing AI startup as it prepares to release a new class of hardware products that have been shaped in large part by Apple’s former design boss.
In the lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of California court, Apple accused two former employees now working at OpenAI of systematically stealing confidential data, including information about unreleased hardware products, technical specifications, and details about vendors and contractors in Apple’s supply chain. The complaint also listed OpenAI as a defendant, as well as io Products, a hardware design firm acquired by OpenAI last year that was co-founded by Apple’s former design boss, Jony Ive.
Source: FORTUNE NB: Jobs said that if you took anybody out of Apple they would be useless. He was right. In my 2013 post “Why Doesn’t Anybody Copy Apple” I agued that even though everyone tries to copy Apple’s products nobody tries to re-create Apple’s operating model. OpenAI seems to be the first to try, though I’d argue they don’t have a clue what they are doing.