OpenAI has struggled to hire talent, significantly increasing its headcount and poaching top AI talent from other technology companies. Now, Apple says the AI giant is playing dirty with its hiring tactics.
The Cupertino tech giant accuses OpenAI of stealing trade secrets in a lawsuit filed Friday that also targets its hardware company IO and two former Apple employees who worked for OpenAI. The case marks a dramatic escalation in the AI talent war, with the race for elite engineers becoming almost as fierce as the race to build smarter models.
The complaint accuses OpenAI of exploiting various stages of the hiring process to extract sensitive information from iPhone manufacturers.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
OpenAI recruiters reportedly instructed job applicants to review confidential Apple documents. According to the complaint, he is preparing a “Technical Deep Dive” presentation about his job at Apple. According to the complaint, one executive asked candidates to bring physical Apple parts to interviews for a “show-and-tell” session. The complaint lists some of the parts requested, including batteries, logic boards, and glass samples.
According to the complaint, one job applicant expressed concern about OpenAI’s tactics, saying he was “surprised that people were bringing Apple parts” to interviews because he “didn’t know you could take parts out of the office.”
Apple also claims that OpenAI interviewers “probe sensitive information” during the hiring process, including asking for explanations about vendors, suppliers, and engineering strategy.
The complaint called these actions “knowingly and intentionally” and also claimed that OpenAI interviewers used secret Apple codenames.
Apple wrote in its lawsuit that it found incriminating messages on the employee’s company-issued laptop.
Tang Tan, a former Apple employee and current head of OpenAI hardware who is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, is at the center of his former employer’s claims.
Apple alleges in the complaint that Tan used an Apple document outlining offboarding procedures to warn new employees about Apple’s forensic and security checks. The complaint alleges that OpenAI told employees leaving Apple that they would not be asked to sign anything during their exit interviews.
“Not surprisingly, Apple has uncovered a recent and concerning pattern of employees leaving the company and then returning to work for OpenAI,” the complaint states.
It goes on to say that “employees who leave may take actions to circumvent security measures, such as failing to provide two weeks’ notice and ignoring efforts by security personnel to schedule termination processes and security reviews, all of which may serve to conceal the misuse or misuse of sensitive information.”
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