Both OpenAI and Anthropic Are Focused on Stealing Trade Secrets: Apple Sues OpenAI, Claiming Theft --- Suit by iPhone maker says AI firm used trade secrets to try to build its own devices. Anthropic Collects User Information and Sends to Anthropic’s Servers Secretly. Both OpenAI and Anthropic Are Dangerous.

 

Anthropic's Claude Code Tracking Controversy

Anthropic faced user backlash after security researchers discovered hidden tracking markers in its Claude Code coding assistant.

 

•     The Allegations: Developers and regulators identified hidden logic in system prompts quietly transmitting proxy settings, time zones, and location data back to Anthropic's servers.

 

•           Anthropic's Explanation: An Anthropic engineer acknowledged the telemetry but clarified it was part of an "experiment" launched to protect the company's intellectual property and stop unauthorized account resellers and distillation campaigns by foreign AI labs.

 

•     User Response: While the company's IP protection goals are somewhat acknowledged in forum debates, users express mixed opinions regarding the covert, undisclosed nature of the tracking, citing deep concerns over user trust and data privacy.

 

 

 

 

 

“Apple sued OpenAI and one of its top executives Friday alleging the AI company stole trade secrets as part of its effort to develop competing devices.

 

The civil suit filed in the Northern District of California accuses OpenAI's chief hardware officer, Tang Tan, and Chang Liu, a member of its technical staff, of taking Apple's confidential information through various methods. Both are former Apple employees who went to work for OpenAI.

 

The lawsuit shows how the relationship between the two companies has deteriorated since 2024, when they signed a deal to have OpenAI's ChatGPT work with Apple's Siri chatbot.

 

Apple's new Siri AI, announced in June, is powered by Google's Gemini technology.

 

Tan is leading OpenAI's efforts to develop its own devices, a crucial strategic effort so that the company can reach consumers directly, rather than via other companies' devices such as Apple's iPhone.

 

The suit alleges that Tan emailed himself information about Apple's suppliers and that he has directed job candidates still working for Apple to bring "actual parts" from Apple to their interviews for "show and tell" with the OpenAI team.

 

A spokesperson for OpenAI said, "We have no interest in other companies' trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere." Tan and Liu couldn't be reached for comment.

 

Apple accuses Liu of using a former colleague's work computer to access Apple's network, claiming that Liu downloaded "dozens of Apple's confidential hardware-related files." Liu coached the former colleague, whom he was recruiting to join OpenAI, on ways to "avoid trouble with the security team" when copying confidential files, the suit says.

 

Tan spent 24 years at Apple, rising to become a senior executive on its product design team. He worked closely with Jony Ive, Apple's head of industrial design. Tan left Apple to join Ive's AI device startup io Products, which subsequently merged with OpenAI.

 

The suit doesn't name Ive.

 

OpenAI is facing other legal claims, including a trade-secrets suit brought by iyO, a startup developing a screenless, voice-controlled device worn in the ear.

 

That company alleged last year that a former engineer stole files from the company and handed them to Tan, then a senior executive connected to io Products.

 

OpenAI has denied any theft of iyO's ideas and said its device is different from the startup's product.

 

OpenAI also considered sending a breach of contract notice to Apple this year alleging that the iPhone maker didn't uphold the terms of their 2024 agreement to promote ChatGPT within Siri, according to a person familiar with the matter.

 

Apple didn't respond to a request for comment.

 

Last month, a federal judge in California dismissed a lawsuit from Elon Musk's xAI that accused OpenAI of recruiting a former engineer to induce him to share information about the company's Grok chatbot.

 

The New York Times sued Microsoft and OpenAI, accusing the technology companies in 2023 of using its content without permission to create and train their AI products.

 

The Times and other publishers asked a federal judge this week to levy sanctions against OpenAI, saying the company has withheld evidence during the legal proceedings.

 

The Wall Street Journal's parent company, News Corp, has a content deal with OpenAI.” [1]

 

1. Apple Sues OpenAI, Claiming Theft --- Suit by iPhone maker says AI firm used trade secrets to try to build own devices. Winkler, Rolfe; Korn, Melissa; Berber, Jin.  Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 11 July 2026: A1.