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Apple’s trade-secret lawsuit against OpenAI, filed earlier this month, names former iPhone executive Tang Tan as the central figure but makes no mention of Jony Ive, Apple’s former design chief who now leads hardware design at OpenAI through his firm LoveFrom. According to a new Bloomberg report, that omission appears to have been intentional.
In the 40-page complaint, Tan—who left Apple to join OpenAI as chief hardware officer—is accused of directing job candidates to smuggle Apple devices into interviews for “show-and-tell” sessions.
The filing also alleges that he coached recruits on how to sidestep internal Apple security protocols before resigning.
Ive’s name appears nowhere in the document, even though OpenAI acquired his startup io Products for $6.5 billion last year and he now oversees the design of the company’s hardware lineup.
Why Apple Steered Clear of Ive
The report points to two reasons. The first is legal: Ive is not believed to have been involved in OpenAI’s recruiting operations or day-to-day engineering work, meaning Apple may not have had sufficient grounds to name him in the lawsuit. The second involves Laurene Powell Jobs.
Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs, has remained a close friend of Ive for years. She invested in io Products before OpenAI acquired the company and continues to support LoveFrom.
During Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference in June, she was seated in the front row alongside CEO Tim Cook and Apple’s senior leadership, a move the report suggests reflected her continued relationship with the company.
The Public Relations Calculation
The report also notes the public relations implications of naming Ive. While Tang Tan is relatively unknown outside the technology industry, Ive spent more than two decades as one of Apple’s most recognizable designers.
Including him in a trade-secret lawsuit could have shifted attention away from the allegations themselves and toward a narrative that Apple was targeting one of the architects of its modern design legacy.
The lawsuit comes as Apple’s talent drain to OpenAI continues. Recent reports indicate that more than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI.
The company’s first consumer hardware product is expected to be a portable smart speaker, with LoveFrom leading the design, as OpenAI looks to establish a new category of AI-powered devices.
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