OpenAI has accused a former employee of taking more than 100 confidential files about its unreleased hardware back to Apple, according to a court filing OpenAI submitted on Wednesday in the trade secrets case Apple brought against the company.

OpenAI claims the employee, who joined from Apple and returned to Apple six months later, transferred sensitive documents to personal accounts before leaving.

The filing does not name the employee. OpenAI has asked the court for time to investigate the matter and to consider counterclaims against Apple.

According to the filing, the files included:

• detailed images of at least one unreleased OpenAI device
• engineering and manufacturing data
• supplier information and project files
• specifications for cosmetic finishes
• reports on coating and sealing hardware components

OpenAI says some of the files were transferred just after midnight in Singapore on June 2, which the filing describes as the employee's final day at OpenAI.

The filing goes further than the alleged file transfer. OpenAI claims the former employee presented OpenAI's product plans to Apple's senior leadership, including Apple's vice president of operations in Asia.

According to OpenAI, that presentation took place months ago. OpenAI now points to Apple's latest AI hardware push, including its newly announced smart home products such as Apple's $299 HomeView smart display, as a reason for concern.

OpenAI told the court it is worried that its confidential information is now circulating inside Apple, where engineers could use it to shape upcoming Apple products.

Apple rejects the claims. The company says it has found nothing to support OpenAI's allegations and that it has rules that stop employees from bringing former employers' secrets into Apple.

The new filing reverses the direction of the original case. In July, Apple sued OpenAI and two former Apple employees, Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan, alleging that the pair took confidential engineering information, including details about unreleased products, to help OpenAI develop its own hardware.

OpenAI denied those accusations at the time, saying it had no interest in other companies' trade secrets. With the new filing, OpenAI argues that confidential hardware information may have moved from OpenAI to Apple instead. OpenAI has not yet shown that Apple received or used any of the files it says were taken.

For consumers, the dispute has no immediate effect on existing Apple or OpenAI products. It does show that both companies are developing AI hardware in parallel, with OpenAI working on at least one unreleased device and Apple expanding into AI-powered smart home products.

Anyone following either company's hardware plans should watch the court docket for counterclaims, which would turn OpenAI's defense into a direct case against Apple.

OpenAI has not filed any counterclaims yet, and the filing does not say when its investigation into the transferred files will be complete.