Report: Apple's OpenAI Lawsuit Threatens iPhone Rival Plans
OpenAI's ambitions to build a hardware rival to the iPhone are already running into trouble because of Apple's trade secret lawsuit, according to Bloomberg 's Mark Gurman , who argues the damage is showing up well before any court ruling. Apple sued OpenAI last week , accusing the company of pushing former employees, and even people it was trying to recruit, to hand over details on unreleased products. The suit also claims OpenAI coached new hires on how to dodge Apple's exit-interview security checks using a document tied to former iPhone design chief Tang Tan. Apple is asking the court to order OpenAI to stop the alleged conduct, destroy any proprietary material it obtained, and pay damages. A courtroom resolution could take years, Gurman says, but he argues the suit is doing damage now, squeezing OpenAI's ability to recruit and creating drag on its device work long before a judge weighs in. OpenAI has declined to discuss its hardware roadmap directly, though in response to the suit the company said it has "no interest in other companies' trade secrets" and remains focused on its own technology. The scale of the talent drain is a major part of why this matters to Apple. More than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI, including former Apple design chief Jony Ive, and Gurman says the company poached so heavily from Apple's iPhone product design group specifically that Apple had to rebuild parts of the team. Apple has responded with bigger retention bonuses and execut
