Apple on Friday sued ChatGPT maker OpenAI and two of the firm's executives, alleging that it stole Apple's trade secrets to gain an edge in the AI arms race. 

The civil suit, filed in the Northern District of California, accuses OpenAI Chief Hardware Officer Tang Tan and Chang Liu, a technical staffer at the company, of stealing Apple's proprietary information to help OpenAI develop its own hardware. Both OpenAI employees formerly worked at Apple, according to the suit. 

Apple also accused OpenAI of engaging in a "coordinated pattern of misconduct at an institutional level."

"This case is about Apple's former employees stealing Apple's trade secrets for the benefit of OpenAI," the complaint states. "Apple brings this suit to put a stop to it."

While employed at Apple for more than two decades, Tan helped design the iPhone, Apple Watch and iPod, according to the lawsuit. The suit also alleges that Liu, a former Apple electrical engineer for eight years, was privy to some of the technology giant's most sensitive product development information. 

An Apple spokesperson said in a statement Friday that the company will "always defend our teams' hard work and innovations, and we are taking all appropriate steps to do so."

A spokesperson for OpenAI told CBS News in a statement Friday: "We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere." 

OpenAI has not revealed what types of products it is developing to run its software, but has said it is researching new ways for people to interact with AI beyond "traditional products and interfaces" as the firm makes its foray into physical products.

"Rotten to its core"

Apple's suit comes as OpenAI is preparing for what is expected to be a massive initial public offering. The complaint accuses OpenAI of abandoning its nonprofit roots in favor of maximizing profits and of pursuing "an aggressive campaign to bring hardware devices to the market."

Facing pressure to deliver its first hardware product, OpenAI "resorted to taking unlawful shortcuts," Apple alleges.

OpenAI's nascent hardware business "now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to its core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets," according to the suit. 

Apple also said it had approached OpenAI to discuss its allegations that the AI company had obtained confidential information, but claimed OpenAI never responded.

"This lawsuit and the discovery process are needed to expose and begin to remedy the pervasive theft of Apple's trade secrets," the suit states. 

Edited by Alain Sherter

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

In:

• OpenAI
• Apple
• Artificial Intelligence