The Fruity Cargo Cult Apple has sent lawyers waving their mighty briefs at former OpenAI staff.
According to the Financial Times, Job’s Mob has targeted 40 former OpenAI employees with personal legal warnings. It wants evidence for its claim that the ChatGPT maker nicked its trade secrets.
The letters demand that they preserve documents and communications and attend meetings with Job’s Mob’s lawyers.
The move shows how aggressively Job’s Mob is pushing after launching a lawsuit accusing OpenAI and two employees of stealing secret hardware plans.
The fight comes as OpenAI works with former Job’s Mob design chief Jony Ive to build its own devices. Cupertino seems oddly touchy now that someone else wants to make a shiny thing with cameras, microphones and mysticism.
Job’s Mob claimed in court filings that the evidence it had included was the “tip of the iceberg” regarding OpenAI’s alleged conduct. OpenAI said that while it takes the allegations seriously, it is not aware of “any evidence that the complaint has merit”.
OpenAI said it had “no interest” in other companies’ trade secrets.
Job’s Mob claims OpenAI’s hardware business is compromised by misappropriated trade secrets. That could make life awkward for OpenAI’s plan to launch a family of AI devices.
The two companies previously worked together to put OpenAI’s technology into Siri. Job’s Mob has since shacked up with Google for its latest features, using its models for a ChatGPT-like voice and text assistant unveiled in June.
The lawsuit filed on 17 July 2026 names only two individuals. One is a top Job’s Mob device designer who is now OpenAI’s head of hardware.
It does not name OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman or former Job’s Mob design chief Jony Ive. Ive joined OpenAI last year after the ChatGPT maker bought his design studio io for $6.4 billion, about €5.6 billion.
The legal net still looks wider than the filing suggests. Shortly after filing the lawsuit, Job’s Mob’s lawyers sent individual letters to about 10 per cent of the 400 former employees now working at OpenAI.
OpenAI’s first device is expected to be a portable, palm-sized gadget for the home, similar to a smart speaker. The design reportedly has no screen but includes a microphone and cameras to take audio and visual cues from its surroundings.
The device will support an AI assistant that can use a person’s data and daily interactions. Even before Job’s Mob sued, OpenAI did not expect to ship it this year.
OpenAI has been wrestling with the assistant’s personality, trying to make it useful without making it an irritating little narc. It has also faced privacy concerns and the problem of finding chips powerful enough to run its models in a mass-market device.
Job’s Mob’s sudden horror at employees walking out of the walled garden looks rich from a company that built an empire on control and proudly nicking other people’s ideas.
