OpenAI is pushing back against Apple’s allegations that it stole trade secrets, arguing that the dispute is driven by Apple’s own internal security and employee offboarding practices. Multiple outlets report that OpenAI responds to Apple’s claims in court filings, disputing the idea that OpenAI or its staff unlawfully took proprietary information.
OpenAI’s central contention is that Apple’s procedures—such as data handling policies and how it manages employee exits—created the conditions for the alleged issues. Outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Quartz, and Yahoo Finance say OpenAI links Apple’s accusations to “sloppy” or inadequate offboarding, while other reports emphasize Apple’s security practices more broadly. Some coverage also notes that Apple’s earlier arguments focus on whether OpenAI benefited from hiring former Apple employees.
The different angles in the reports reflect who is portrayed as responsible: Apple is described as claiming former employees improperly extracted trade-related information, including hardware design material, while OpenAI says Apple is improperly using its own management and process failures to blame others. The Reuters-cited reporting also adds that OpenAI frames Apple as behind on AI adoption.
