{"id":2122735,"date":"2026-09-01T15:53:04","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T12:53:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2122735"},"modified":"2026-09-01T15:53:04","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T12:53:04","slug":"apple-reveals-shocking-evidence-in-openai-trade-secrets-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2122735","title":{"rendered":"Apple reveals \u2018shocking evidence\u2019 in OpenAI trade secrets lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/helios-i.mashable.com\/imagery\/articles\/04k4AjLC2mRNCm2reZ3peVB\/hero-image.fill.size_1200x675.v1788274331.jpg”]<\/p>\n

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Home<\/a>><\/span>Tech<\/a>><\/span>Tech Industry<\/a><\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Apple reveals \u2018shocking evidence\u2019 in OpenAI trade secrets lawsuit<\/h1>\n
Apple previously claimed this was “just the tip of the iceberg.”<\/div>\n
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\n \u00a0By\u00a0<\/p>\n
Matt Binder<\/a><\/div>\n

\u00a0on\u00a0

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\"Apple<\/p>\n
Apple claims it has evidence that a former employee stole trade secrets to benefit his new employer, OpenAI.<\/span>Credit: VCG\/VCG via Getty Images<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Apple’s lawsuit against OpenAI and two of its former employees over alleged stolen trade secrets is heating up.<\/p>\n

In a new filing<\/u><\/a>, Apple says it has found “shocking evidence” and is asking the court for expedited discovery. Apple claims the limited information it found after a former employee’s work laptop was returned to the company shows that “its trade secrets are being used and evidence is being destroyed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Apple filed a lawsuit <\/u><\/a>in July against OpenAI, its hardware company, io Products, and two Apple employees who now work at OpenAI. Apple claims that former iPhone engineer Chang Liu and OpenAI Chief Hardware Officer Tang Yew Tan utilized Apple’s trade secrets to develop hardware products for the AI company. The latter previously worked at Apple for 24 years.<\/p>\n

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While the evidence is redacted from the public in the filing, Apple says that \u201cinitial forensic analysis\u201d of Chang Liu’s MacBook revealed that the former engineer used a downloaded confidential Apple circuit schematic in his work at OpenAI. Liu also used a tool with the same name as an internal Apple engineering application in his work for OpenAI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Apple further claims it has evidence that other employees at OpenAI were aware of Liu’s unauthorized access to Apple’s third-party cloud storage. In addition, Apple says Liu sent instructions to destroy evidence to another OpenAI employee after discovering that Apple was conducting an internal investigation of him, and that the other OpenAI employee confirmed that she would comply.<\/p>\n

According to Apple, Liu used an AI agent on the Apple circuit schematic, which “may create irreversible and continually propagating uses of the trade secret” as the AI model could utilize Apple’s data for model training.<\/p>\n

Liu’s MacBook<\/a> from his time at Apple also synced with a\u00a0Mac mini<\/a>, which was used to run the schematic, so Apple is now requesting that the desktop computer\u00a0be provided as evidence as well.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, OpenAI went public<\/u><\/a> with a response denying any wrongdoing. OpenAI also provided text messages, which it says refute some of Apple’s claims. <\/p>\n

Apple previously sent legal preservation letters<\/u><\/a> to roughly 40 other OpenAI employees who used to work at Apple. In its lawsuit, Apple said that it believes the initial evidence was “just the tip of the iceberg” when it comes to OpenAI’s use of its trade secrets. More than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI, according to Apple.<\/p>\n

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Disclosure: Ziff Davis, Mashable\u2019s parent company, in April 2025 filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Topics<\/span>Apple<\/a>OpenAI<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n

\"Mashable<\/div>\n<\/article>\n

[analyse_source url=”https:\/\/mashable.com\/tech\/apple-reveals-shocking-evidence-openai-trade-secrets-lawsuit”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/helios-i.mashable.com\/imagery\/articles\/04k4AjLC2mRNCm2reZ3peVB\/hero-image.fill.size_1200x675.v1788274331.jpg”] Home>Tech>Tech Industry Apple reveals \u2018shocking evidence\u2019 in OpenAI trade secrets lawsuit Apple previously claimed this was “just the tip of the iceberg.” \u00a0By\u00a0 Matt Binder \u00a0on\u00a0September 1, 2026 Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on Flipboard Apple claims it has evidence that a former employee stole trade secrets to benefit his new employer, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,75],"class_list":["post-2122735","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-mashable-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2122735","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2122735"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2122735\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2122735"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2122735"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2122735"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}