Apple filed a trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI last Friday, and it’s not messing around. The complaint alleges a pattern of misconduct reaching all the way up to OpenAI’s chief hardware officer and claims more than 400 former Apple employees now work at the company. OpenAI’s response so far has been carefully hedged, and the timing couldn’t be worse with the company reportedly eyeing an IPO as early as later this year.
On this episode of TechCrunch’s Equity podcast, hosts Kirsten Korosec, Anthony Ha, and Sean O’Kane dig into what the lawsuit could mean for OpenAI’s own hardware ambitions and IPO timeline, plus a bigger theme running through the week’s news: how much should anyone trust AI companies with their data?
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Chapters:
00:00 Intro
00:40 Would you want Sam Altman listening to you?
01:53 Apple sues OpenAI over trade secrets
13:24 Satya Nadella’s warning: “you’re paying twice” with your data
19:03 Open source vs. going deeper with AI labs
24:52 General Catalyst gives David Beckham’s health drink startup $1B
30:05 Ex-OpenAI researcher raises $200M for drug discovery startup
32:58 Outro
@cfshifflett2
July 17, 2026 at 2:37 pm
24/7 audio surveillance by a DOD contractor? Who wouldn’t want that?