Apple sues OpenAI over alleged theft of trade secrets — claims company mentored incoming employees on bringing confidential information ⁠17%

By Andrew E. Freedman⁠26%

7/10/2026, 2:59:42 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 24 faulty reasoning types, including Confirmation Bias, Hasty Generalization, and Quote-first Misdirection, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 28.9% saturation with 159 hits. Analysis detected 1,493 faulty-reasoning hits from 550 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 32.7% and a BS Rank of ⁠17% (18,190 of 21,887 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 83.10% of the article peer group.

Apple filed a federal lawsuit against OpenAI on Friday, accusing the AI company and its chief hardware officer of stealing its trade secrets. 
"OpenAI and its cohorts, led at least in part by former Apple employees, have recruited candidates from Apple, extracted their knowledge of Apple’s sensitive and confidential information, and then continued to exploit that knowledge once they arrived," the complaint reads. 
"As a result, OpenAI has misappropriated Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information in a variety of ways." 
The suit, filed in the Northern District of California , names OpenAI technical staff member Chang Liu, chief hardware officer Tang Tan, OpenAI, and io Products as defendants. 
The last of that group is notable because it was founded by Tan in collaboration with former Apple design head Jony Ive, Evans Hankey (Ive's successor at Apple), and former Apple designer Scott Cannon. 
Notably, the complaint seems to attempt to avoid naming the founders, though Ive's name is cited in a URL. 
Tan previously served as a vice president of product design at Apple, working on the iPhone, AirPods, and Apple Watch. 
Liu served at Apple as a senior electrical engineer. 
In the complaint, Apple alleges that it reached out to OpenAI in February with concerns, but that OpenAI did not respond. 
Apple claims that Tan attempted to gain secrets from Apple employees, including asking prospective job candidates to bring components for "show and tell" sessions and used his knowledge of the company to squeeze more information out of candidates. 
The suit claims that Liu never returned a company laptop, and used an authentication bug to access Apple files. 
Apple also claims that OpenAI told incoming employees how to leave their former job, suggesting they stay as long as possible and not disclose their former employer in order to continue to access confidential information. 
"At every level, from members of its Technical Staff to its Chief Hardware Officer, and in coordination with business partners, OpenAI has been stealing Apple’s trade secrets and confidential information," the suit reads. 
"As a natural result, OpenAI’s nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets." 
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Tom's Hardware . 
Apple's lawsuit claims that over 400 former Apple employees currently work at OpenAI. 
Apple is rumored to be working on a number of AI-powered hardware projects, including AirPods with cameras, a pendant, and home robots. 
It's less clear what hardware OpenAI may be working on, though The Information suggested the company has a HomePod-style smart speaker in the works. 
Apple is requesting a jury trial, damages, attorney fees, and orders that the OpenAI may not use Apple's trade secrets, among other injunctions. 
In May, Bloomberg reported that OpenAI was considering legal action against Apple because it expected deeper integration and more users from ChatGPT features built into iOS. 
If the trial does go to court, it's sure to be a dramatic one, potentially dragging several former high-level Apple employees into testimony through discovery and testimony.The trial, Apple Inc. v. 
Liu et al, is case 5:26-cv-07078 in the United States District Court in Southern California. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 23.6%Andrew E. Freedman: 4.7%Tom's Hardware: 3.8%Confirmation Bias23.6%This article: 4.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 4.0%Tom's Hardware: 2.3%Anchoring Bias4.0%This article: 9.3%Andrew E. Freedman: 1.5%Tom's Hardware: 3.5%Availability Heuristic9.3%This article: 2.4%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 1.1%Representativeness Heuristic2.4%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.5%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 1.9%Tom's Hardware: 3.5%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 9.5%Andrew E. Freedman: 7.2%Tom's Hardware: 9.2%Framing Effect9.5%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 2.4%Tom's Hardware: 0.9%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 2.2%Tom's Hardware: 0.7%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.3%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 5.6%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.3%Tom's Hardware: 6.0%Optimism Bias5.6%This article: 4.9%Andrew E. Freedman: 2.1%Tom's Hardware: 2.0%Pessimism Bias4.9%This article: 28.9%Andrew E. Freedman: 11.4%Tom's Hardware: 6.5%Negativity Bias28.9%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 2.7%Tom's Hardware: 1.3%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.6%Fundamental Attribution Error0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 1.3%Tom's Hardware: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.6%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.3%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.8%Tom's Hardware: 2.8%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.0%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 13.5%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.9%Tom's Hardware: 2.0%Recency Bias13.5%This article: 6.2%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.6%Primacy Effect6.2%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.1%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.2%Ad Hominem0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.2%Straw Man0.0%This article: 9.1%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 5.4%Appeal to Authority9.1%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 2.0%False Dilemma0.0%This article: 5.6%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 1.0%Slippery Slope5.6%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 22.5%Andrew E. Freedman: 5.7%Tom's Hardware: 6.1%Hasty Generalization22.5%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.3%Red Herring0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 1.1%Bandwagon0.0%This article: 16.9%Andrew E. Freedman: 6.6%Tom's Hardware: 3.0%Appeal to Emotion16.9%This article: 3.1%Andrew E. Freedman: 1.5%Tom's Hardware: 0.8%Begging the Question3.1%This article: 12.7%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 3.5%Post Hoc (False Cause)12.7%This article: 2.5%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.1%Tu Quoque2.5%This article: 14.5%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.8%Burden of Proof14.5%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.3%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.6%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 7.5%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.8%Tom's Hardware: 1.6%Anecdotal7.5%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.0%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 14.5%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.9%Tom's Hardware: 3.4%Ambiguity (Equivocation)14.5%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.2%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.0%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.2%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 9.6%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.1%Genetic Fallacy9.6%This article: 10.4%Andrew E. Freedman: 1.2%Tom's Hardware: 2.4%Unattributed Quote10.4%This article: 18.2%Andrew E. Freedman: 1.3%Tom's Hardware: 0.9%Quote-first Misdirection18.2%This article: 16.4%Andrew E. Freedman: 4.8%Tom's Hardware: 7.1%Biased Writer Voice16.4%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 1.3%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.1%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 0.0%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Andrew E. Freedman: 0.0%Tom's Hardware: 3.3%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

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