Apple Sues OpenAI: Theft of Employees, Not Code

Apple has accused OpenAI of running a theft operation involving its employees. The tech giant filed a complaint in federal court, stating that OpenAI recruited former Apple staff and encouraged them to share proprietary information. The complaint alleges that OpenAI's hardware chief, a former Apple product-design VP, told job candidates to bring "actual parts" from unreleased Apple products to interviews. It also claims a former Apple engineer left with a company laptop containing over a thousand pages of technical files. More than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI. Apple is not claiming OpenAI copied code, but rather that it hired individuals who carried valuable knowledge. This suggests the lawsuit is about protecting accumulated judgment and expertise, not just software. The bottom line is that the leverage in the AI world isn't just the tools themselves, but the knowledge people have and can take with them.