Apple has asked a court to block OpenAI from building an AI device or other products using Apple's technology. The request escalates a legal fight over trade secrets — confidential information a company keeps private to maintain a competitive edge — that now involves at least 13 former Apple employees and a hardware startup co-founded by Jony Ive, Apple's longtime former design chief.

The court request was filed alongside a motion to speed up the evidence-gathering process in a case called Apple Inc. v. Liu (docket 73602437). The case names former Apple employees Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan, OpenAI, OpenAI's foundation, and io, the hardware startup co-founded by Ive. The filing was reported on August 4, 2026 (TechCrunch).

Apple's investigation has found 11 more former employees beyond Liu and Tan who may have been involved. The original complaint was filed July 10, 2026, and also named OpenAI employee Yu-Ting Peng (Reuters). Liu was a senior system electrical engineer at Apple; Tan was a former vice president of product (Reuters).

The new filing describes specific episodes Apple says it uncovered. One former Apple employee met with Liu and Peng before Peng's job interview at OpenAI and talked about Apple information on unannounced products. Another former employee took screenshots of confidential Apple documents about an unannounced product before an interview at OpenAI (TechCrunch).

Apple also said that after it filed its initial complaint, multiple former Apple employees now at OpenAI contacted Apple about returning work devices they had kept after leaving the company (TechCrunch).

The original lawsuit said OpenAI coached departing Apple employees on how to get around Apple's security procedures when leaving. Apple said the effort was directed by OpenAI's senior leadership, including a longtime former employee (CNBC; TechCrunch). Apple says over 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI (NBC News).

OpenAI has denied the claims. In a statement, OpenAI said Apple's request is "both based on false information and completely unnecessary" because OpenAI "does not have, nor want, any of Apple's trade secrets" (TechCrunch).

The dispute has already produced at least one misstep for Apple. The company emailed the wrong person when it first contacted OpenAI after mixing up two similar last names (NBC News).

The two companies also have a business partnership. Apple announced Apple Intelligence — its AI system for iPhone, iPad, and Mac — on June 10, 2024, and said that when users access ChatGPT through Apple Intelligence, their IP addresses would be hidden and OpenAI would not store their requests (Apple Newsroom). Apple expanded Apple Intelligence to more devices in 2025 (Apple Newsroom). So the two companies are partners in delivering AI to consumers and opponents in court.

What stands out here is how quickly Apple's investigation has expanded, from two named people to 13 individuals in under a month. The request to speed up evidence gathering suggests Apple wants to act before any io device gets too far along in development to stop. The pattern Apple describes — screenshots and meetings about confidential products before job interviews — if proven, would suggest a planned effort to collect data before leaving, rather than employees simply carrying knowledge in their heads when they switch jobs.

OpenAI's flat denial that it has or wants Apple's secrets is a strong position given the number of specific claims Apple has made. The last-name mix-up in Apple's initial contact does not look good for Apple, though it does not address the actual evidence Apple says it has.

The io startup adds another layer. If Apple's court order succeeds, it could limit what io is allowed to build and ship, even if some of io's work is entirely its own. For a young hardware company, being told by a court what technology it can and cannot use is a serious problem, not just a legal headache.