The Vergecast
The Vergecast

Apple's plot to crush OpenAI

July 17, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The Vergecast: Apple's plot to crush OpenAI

Apple's lawsuit against OpenAI isn't really about trade secrets — it's about Apple using every legal tool available to slow down a company it sees as a threat, just as it did with Microsoft in the 1990s and Samsung in the 2010s. That's the through-line running through this week's episode, which also covers the messy state of Apple's new Siri AI, OpenAI's rumored hardware ambitions, OnePlus retreating from the US market, and Brendan Carr continuing to test the limits of what an FCC chair can get away with.

Apple's trade secret lawsuit against OpenAI

The lawsuit, filed last week, alleges that OpenAI orchestrated a system where Apple employees would quit and bring confidential information with them. The complaint names specific people — including a former Apple engineer named Trang Tan, who Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reported was known internally for "flying too close to the sun" — and names OpenAI-adjacent companies like Jony Ive's hardware startup. The complaint reads like a heist movie, which is by design: "The audience for this complaint is not the judge, it's not the jury — it's you and me and everybody listening," Nilay said. "They have all figured out this first step. The complaint is a narrative."

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (01:47) **Welcome & Apple's Siri AI Hands-On** - Hosts David Pierce and Nilay Patel discuss their early experiences with Apple's new Siri AI, noting both impressive new capabilities and frustrating regressions in reliability.
  • 2 (15:24) **Apple Sues OpenAI: The Trade Secret Heist Narrative** - Apple filed a lawsuit alleging OpenAI orchestrated a scheme for Apple employees to steal confidential information, framing the complaint as a dramatic "heist movie" for public consumption.
  • 3 (19:07) **Historical Context: Apple's IP Wars** - Nilay places the OpenAI lawsuit in the context of Apple's history of major intellectual property fights, suggesting the outcome may be similar.
  • 4 (22:56) **Why Trade Secrets? And Is Apple Trying to Kill OpenAI?** - The hosts analyze Apple's legal strategy, arguing that trade secret law is the only viable option when no product has been shipped yet, and that Apple may be trying to cripple a less stable competitor.
  • 5 (29:31) **OpenAI's First Hardware: A Smart Speaker with No Screen** - Bloomberg reports OpenAI's first major device will be a smart speaker with a camera and battery but no screen, which the hosts argue is a deeply unfocused and difficult product category.
  • 6 (44:49) **The "Can It Turn On the Lights?" Problem** - The hosts argue that for any new AI hardware, the table stakes are doing simple things reliably, which is a harder problem than achieving AGI.
  • 7 (48:47) **Consumer vs. Enterprise AI Adoption** - The hosts contrast the consumer market's low tolerance for failure with the enterprise's high incentive to overcome rough edges.

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Guests on this episode

Nilay Patel David Pierce

Show Notes

It's public beta season, which means David and Nilay have been upgrading some devices this week. We talk through the good and bad of our early experiences with Siri AI, and what it'll take for next-gen Siri to be a hit. After that, we discuss the real reason Apple decided to sue OpenAI over trade secrets, OpenAI's forthcoming smart speaker, the new Pixel colors, our emoji strategies, Brendan Carr, and much more.


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