In its lawsuit against OpenAI, Apple filed evidence it described as “shocking” to support allegations that a former employee took trade secrets to OpenAI. The details surfaced after the legal counsel for former Apple engineer Chang Liu, who now works at OpenAI, handed over Liu’s old Apple work laptop for inspection earlier this month.
Apple alleges Liu used a confidential Apple circuit schematic while at OpenAI and used a tool with the same name as an internal Apple engineering application. The company further alleges OpenAI was “well aware” of Liu’s access to Apple data and that Liu asked OpenAI colleague Yu-Ting Peng to help destroy evidence in June after he learned Apple was investigating him.
“The MacBook represents the very limited information Defendants provided so far (and only after weeks of delay), and shows Apple is not conducting ‘fishing expeditions’ but that its trade secrets are being used and evidence is being destroyed,” the filing reads.
Earlier court filings included text messages Liu sent, punctuated with “crying laughing” emojis, that show he knew he still had access to Apple files. Apple cites those messages as part of its claim that trade secrets left Apple systems and were used outside the company.
OpenAI defended Liu, saying he accessed Apple files only after he left, to help former colleagues who asked for assistance. In a blog post this month OpenAI wrote that Apple is “shifting the blame to residual access” and argued the company has problems managing system access when employees leave.
Apple says Liu retained access because he “exploited a rare, previously unknown authentication bug.”
Lakbima News has requested comment from OpenAI on Apple’s newest allegations.
Apple is seeking a preliminary injunction, a court order that would bar OpenAI from working on hardware based on Apple’s technology while the case continues. Apple is also seeking expedited discovery, arguing more former employees may be implicated. According to Apple’s initial filing, more than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI.
