Apple (AAPL) is suing OpenAI (OPAI.PVT), accusing the AI lab of trade secret theft as part of its effort to develop its own AI hardware devices.
"OpenAI and its cohorts have been engaging in a coordinated pattern of misconduct at an institutional level," Apple claims.
In its suit, filed in the US District Court for Northern California, Apple alleges that OpenAI's hardware chief Tang Tan, who previously served as vice president of product design at Apple, and Chang Liu, a former Apple electrical engineer who now works at OpenAI, colluded to steal information from the iPhone maker that would help it build its AI products.
According to the suit, Tan began emailing himself information about Apple's suppliers before leaving his position at the company and moving on to OpenAI.
The lawsuit also states that Tan would use internal Apple codenames when interviewing candidates for positions at OpenAI who worked at Apple, in an effort to dig up further information. Tan, the suit says, also requested candidates who still employed by Apple to bring "actual parts" to interviews for "show and tell" sessions.