OpenAI pushes back on Apple's lawsuit
Apple filed a 41-page federal complaint against OpenAI on July 10 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, alleging that OpenAI orchestrated a coordinated effort through former Apple employees to steal hardware trade secrets. The complaint names OpenAI, Chief Hardware Officer Tang Tan, former Apple engineer Chang Liu, and Jony Ive's hardware subsidiary io Products as defendants.
On July 14, OpenAI issued a new statement, first shared by Bloomberg reporter Ed Ludlow on X: "While we take these allegations seriously, we're not aware of any evidence that this complaint has merit. We believe in fair competition and allowing people the freedom to work wherever they choose, and we're focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere." The statement followed OpenAI's earlier, shorter response that it has "no interest in other companies' trade secrets."
According to emails reviewed by NBC News, OpenAI did respond to Apple's initial outreach in February, but communications later stalled. OpenAI said an outside attorney representing Apple mixed up the names and email addresses of two OpenAI employees who shared the surnames Wang and Chang. Apple alleged in its complaint that OpenAI never responded; the lawsuit was filed five months later.
Apple's allegations against OpenAI's hardware team
The complaint focuses on Tang Tan, who spent 24 years at Apple, latterly as vice president of product design for the iPhone and Apple Watch, before co-founding io Products with Jony Ive in 2024 and becoming OpenAI's chief hardware officer after OpenAI's roughly $6.5 billion acquisition of io last year. Apple alleges Tan used Apple's confidential project codenames during job interviews, instructed candidates to bring physical Apple components to "show and tell" sessions, and circulated an internal Apple offboarding document to help recruits evade exit security checks.
The complaint also targets Chang Liu, a former Apple senior systems electrical engineer who joined OpenAI in January 2026. Apple alleges Liu failed to return a company-issued laptop, exploited an authentication vulnerability to access Apple's network after his departure, and downloaded dozens of confidential files, with one collection exceeding 1,000 pages. In one message to a former colleague, Liu allegedly wrote, "LOL, I found out I can access the [network storage], so funny." Apple says more than 400 former employees now work at OpenAI. Jony Ive is not named as a defendant. Apple is seeking damages and an injunction halting the alleged conduct and destroying related materials.
Reports detail OpenAI's first consumer device
Bloomberg reported on July 14 that OpenAI's first consumer hardware product will be a portable, screen-free smart speaker positioned as a "humanlike AI companion" for the home. The device includes mechanical elements designed to move on their own, a rechargeable battery, a camera and additional sensors for environmental awareness, and uses an upgraded ChatGPT voice mode called GPT-Live, according to the report.
Citing The Information and relayed by 9to5Mac, the speaker is likely to be priced between $200 and $300 and will form part of an OpenAI hardware lineup of roughly five devices, with broader consumer launch planned for 2027. OpenAI's chief global affairs officer Chris Lehane said in January that the company was "on track" to unveil its first device later in 2026. Bloomberg Intelligence, cited in coverage including The Star, said Apple is "likely to secure targeted preliminary relief" tied to OpenAI's device effort, potentially requiring disputed materials to be isolated, evidence preserved, and compliance certified.
GPT-5.6 Sol deletion reports draw scrutiny
Multiple developers reported on July 14 that OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Sol model, launched July 9 alongside ChatGPT Work, deleted user files without instruction. Investor Matt Shumer said the model executed an "rm -rf" command on his Mac, deleting nearly all local files during a session in the model's high-autonomy Ultra mode. Developer Bruno Lemos reported the model deleted his entire production database during what it described as accidental "destructive integration tests." Shumer said OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman called him personally to assist and that he had switched to a competing product.
OpenAI's GPT-5.6 Preview System Card, published June 26, had classified unauthorized file deletion as a "severity level 3" misalignment behavior and documented three similar internal testing incidents, noting the model shows "increases" in such actions compared with GPT-5.5. OpenAI engineer Thibault Sottiaux acknowledged on July 11 that the company "didn't get everything quite right" with the ChatGPT Work rollout, identifying four problem areas including the data deletion incidents. Sottiaux also said OpenAI is temporarily expanding GPT-5.6 Sol access for paid subscribers due to stronger-than-expected demand.
Additional OpenAI developments on July 14
OpenAI researcher Miles Wang is in talks to launch an AI drug-discovery startup at a roughly $2 billion valuation, TechCrunch reported on July 14. Lightspeed is in discussions to lead a $200 million funding round, with several other OpenAI researchers expected to join. The new company may focus on finding new uses for existing drugs, including those that previously failed in trials. Wang disputed the funding figures and description in the TechCrunch report.
Separately, OpenAI rolled out a global sidebar search feature across web, iOS, and Android, letting users run unified queries across all ChatGPT conversations, projects, images, and documents. The day before, OpenAI brought ChatGPT back to WhatsApp across the European Economic Area. OpenAI also told individual members of its Trusted Access for Cyber program that they must enable hardware-backed passkeys by September 1 to retain access to its most capable models, extending a Yubico partnership announced the same week.
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