Apple Sues OpenAI Over Departing iPhone Engineer
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- Apple is suing OpenAI over iPhone engineer Chang Liu, alleging he "left with more than just years of experience" when he quit for OpenAI's hardware division, per Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
- Tang Tan, OpenAI's hardware chief, had a strained relationship with former Apple boss John Ternus and is known for "flying very close to the sun," per a person who worked with him.
- The lawsuit follows months of simmering tensions between Apple and OpenAI, rooted in part in the poaching of Tan and other iPhone hardware veterans.
- A resurfaced quote attributed to the departing engineer — "LOL, I found out I can access the [network storage], so funny" — appears central to Apple's claim that proprietary data was taken.
- Elon Musk publicly jabbed at Sam Altman over the lawsuit; Altman fired back accusing Musk of "selling public market investors on short-term space datacenters."
- OpenAI communications director Drew Pusateri issued a brief "No Interest" statement in response, per Daring Fireball.
Why it matters: The suit puts OpenAI's nascent consumer hardware division directly in legal jeopardy, targeting the very team poaching was meant to build. It also spotlights the cross-company ties between Tang Tan and Apple's Ternus, with X commentators noting Apple's $140B cash reserves and reputation for rarely losing lawsuits as the case heads into court.
