Two tech titans went to war on Friday: mighty Apple and OpenAI. And to judge by the initial news stories, Apple’s lawsuit against OpenAI, which it filed on Friday, looks like one for the ages. “Apple Sues OpenAI Alleging Trade Secret Theft, Says Scheme Was ‘at Every Level’ ” read the headline on CNBC’s story. The New York Times said in its print headline that Apple had accused OpenAI of “plundering trade secrets for its new hardware division.” Financial Times said the information OpenAI allegedly stole from Apple was “top secret.”
All the articles quoted the most incendiary sentence in Apple’s filing: “OpenAI’s nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets.”
If the allegations are true—if, indeed, the trade secret theft was known and approved at “every level” of OpenAI—the consequences could be dire for one of the most important new companies in the world. It would surely derail the IPO OpenAI has planned before year’s end. But it could also damage the reputation of Jony Ive, Apple’s former chief design officer, whose start-up company was bought by OpenAI last year as part of a closely watched push to launch a device of its own. And maybe, just maybe, it could do in OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman as well.
