Apple has escalated its legal battle with OpenAI, filing for a preliminary injunction that would stop the ChatGPT maker from developing an AI device or other products based on Apple's technology. In a new court filing, Apple also alleges that additional former employees, beyond those already named, may have been involved in taking confidential company data to OpenAI, marking a significant widening of the trade secrets dispute first raised in its original complaint.

Apple is seeking expedited discovery from OpenAI employees Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan, from OpenAI itself, and from io, the device startup co-founded by former Apple design chief Jony Ive. The company says its investigation has identified 11 further former employees who may be witnesses or otherwise implicated, and cites specific incidents including screenshots taken of confidential documents before OpenAI job interviews and former staff attempting to return Apple-issued devices after the lawsuit was filed. OpenAI has publicly rejected the claims, calling the injunction request "based on false information" and insisting it holds no Apple trade secrets, while also accusing Apple of misstatements including a wrongly addressed email and poor internal security procedures.