Apple has sued OpenAI, accusing the artificial intelligence company of stealing trade secrets to develop its own hardware. The legal battle has begun before Sam Altman and Jony Ive’s team have even unveiled their first device. Elon Musk immediately seized on the lawsuit to attack the OpenAI chief.
Musk called Altman “Scam Altman”. When an X user added that he was taking fraud to a new level, Musk replied: “He takes scamming to a whole new level.”
Altman returned fire with a swipe at SpaceX and Musk’s plans for data centers in space. “Homeboy you're the one selling public market investors on short-term space datacenters”, he wrote. Musk replied that SpaceX would begin doing so next year. He then went further, accusing Altman of first stealing an “open source AI charity” and now Apple’s phone technology.
The exchange may look like little more than a farcical feud between tech billionaires. The dispute behind it is more serious. Apple is trying to halt a potential rival before OpenAI’s hardware ambitions have taken shape. That is precisely the point.
Apple Fears the Post-iPhone Era
The dispute recalls Apple’s old war against Android. Steve Jobs once called Google’s operating system a stolen product and spoke of “thermonuclear war”. Back then, the battle was between the iPhone and a new wave of smartphone rivals. Today, the question is whether the next generation of devices will need the iPhone at all.
Since acquiring Jony Ive’s company io, OpenAI has been working on a family of AI devices. Few details are known. What is clear is that Altman wants to free AI from the browser, the app and the conventional smartphone. For Apple, that is the most dangerous direction imaginable.
In the later stages of his tenure, Tim Cook is confronting a problem Apple was able to obscure for years. The company controls the devices, the chips, the App Store and the gateway through which billions of people access technology every day. But in generative AI, Apple has gone from setting the pace to falling behind. Even the new Siri will reportedly rely on Google technology.
OpenAI has what Apple lacks: powerful models, speed, momentum and the promise of a new platform. Apple has what OpenAI still needs: hardware expertise, billions of users and an established place in their daily lives.
The Threat Came From Within
At the center of the lawsuit is Tang Tan. He spent 24 years at Apple, rising to vice president of product design before joining Jony Ive’s team. Following OpenAI’s acquisition of io, Tan now leads its hardware development.
Apple accuses OpenAI of obtaining confidential information through former employees. A junior employee allegedly accessed company servers using an Apple employee’s login credentials. Tan is said to have encouraged job candidates to bring internal Apple components or materials to interviews.
Whether Apple has sufficient evidence remains unclear. In the technology industry, it is not unusual for engineers to discuss previous projects during job interviews. The crucial distinction is between professional experience and confidential material.
OpenAI has rejected the allegations. The company said it had no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. Altman wrote on X that he was not afraid of Apple but had tremendous respect for the company.
Musk Seizes His Chance for Revenge
For Elon Musk, the lawsuit is a gift. He co-founded OpenAI, later left the company and has spent years accusing Altman of betraying its original nonprofit mission. With xAI, Musk is building a direct rival to OpenAI.
The Apple lawsuit fits his narrative perfectly. First, Altman supposedly stole OpenAI. Now, OpenAI stands accused of stealing Apple technology. Musk only had to turn the allegations into another public spectacle on X.
Altman, in turn, used the exchange to promote his own product. He wrote that numerous benchmarks suggested “5.6 Sol”, the latest version of ChatGPT, was currently the best model in the world. The most reliable sign, however, was that Elon was obsessed with him again.
OpenAI poses a threat to Apple because it does not need to build a better phone. It could instead make the phone less central to people’s lives. That is why Apple’s lawsuit can also be read as an attempt to buy time. If its lawyers can slow OpenAI down, John Ternus gains more time to shape Apple’s next chapter.
The feud on X generates the headlines. The deeper question is whether OpenAI is merely building a new device or laying the foundations for a world in which the iPhone is no longer at the center.