Apple Sends Legal Letters to About 40 Former OpenAI Employees
Claire Weston
Apple has sent legal letters to roughly 40 former employees now working at OpenAI, demanding document preservation and meetings with its lawyers — a move that widens its trade-secret battle from a courtroom filing to a personnel-level probe, pressuring both OpenAI's hardware ambitions and its IPO timeline.
What do these 40 letters actually demand?
Apple sent personal legal letters to about 40 people, requiring them to preserve documents and communications and to meet with Apple's legal team.
These recipients represent roughly 10% of the approximately 400 former Apple employees now at OpenAI.
This means → Apple is not casting a wide net; it has singled out the people it believes most likely handled core secrets.
What does Apple's lawsuit allege?
Apple filed suit last week, accusing OpenAI and two named employees of stealing confidential hardware designs.
One defendant is a former top Apple device designer who now leads OpenAI's hardware division.
Apple's court filings call the evidence gathered so far the "tip of the iceberg" and argue that OpenAI's entire hardware operation is tainted by stolen trade secrets.
In plain terms = Apple is saying the problem goes beyond two individuals — what they carried has seeped into OpenAI's whole hardware pipeline.
How has OpenAI responded?
OpenAI says it has "found no evidence that the complaint has merit" and claims it has "zero interest" in other companies' trade secrets.
The lawsuit does not name OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, nor does it name Jony Ive — the former Apple chief designer who joined OpenAI last year when it acquired his studio io for $6.4 billion.
This means → Apple's fire is aimed at the people who directly handled hardware designs, not at OpenAI's top decision-makers.
What happens to OpenAI's hardware plans?
Sources say OpenAI's first device is expected to be a palm-sized, screenless portable unit with a microphone and camera — sensing its surroundings and serving as an AI assistant powered by personal data.
Even before Apple's lawsuit, OpenAI did not expect to ship the device this year.
In plain terms = the product was already a long way off; the litigation only adds uncertainty to the timeline.
How did Apple and OpenAI's relationship reach this point?
The two companies previously partnered to integrate OpenAI's technology into Apple's voice assistant Siri.
Apple has since shifted to Google, using Google's models to power a ChatGPT-style voice and text assistant.
This reflects more than a partner swap — Apple is severing the relationship while ensuring its former partner cannot use Apple technology to build a competing product.
What does this mean for OpenAI's IPO?
The trajectory of this lawsuit will be a significant variable in OpenAI's closely watched IPO process.
This means → if Apple's "trade-secret taint" argument holds, OpenAI's hardware line could face injunctions or major restructuring — a direct source of valuation uncertainty heading into a public listing.
Content is for reference only, not financial advice.