OpenAI has filed a motion to dismiss Apple's trade secrets lawsuit, calling the allegations "meritless" and "rotten to its core." The ChatGPT maker argues Apple is mischaracterising former employees' actions as theft and labelling generic product development information as trade secrets, while failing to show it took reasonable steps to protect that information. The dispute matters because it pits two of the most powerful companies in tech against each other over AI talent and hardware development, following Apple's struggles to integrate AI into its own products.

Apple filed the original lawsuit in July, alleging that former staff who moved to OpenAI took confidential documents to aid its hardware plans. OpenAI's filing follows a blog post published on Tuesday and singles out ex-Apple employee Chang Liu, accused of downloading files after leaving, saying he was merely helping former colleagues who asked for assistance. OpenAI claims Apple is using the case to mask its own failures in retaining talent and developing AI products. A judge is due to hear arguments on the dismissal motion on 1 October, while Apple has separately requested a preliminary injunction, filed on Monday, to block OpenAI and the named employees from using any allegedly confidential material while the case proceeds.