OpenAI says Apple's own security lapses caused its trade secrets mess

[CharlotteFlair]

OpenAI filed a court brief on August 31st denying Apple's trade secret theft allegations, arguing in blunt terms that the dispute is a mess of Apple's own making and that Apple is trying to blame everyone else. The filing, submitted in US District Court in San Jose, came the same day Apple submitted its own brief in the case, which centers on Apple's claim that two former employees, Chang Liu and Tang Tan, brought confidential hardware information with them to OpenAI

OpenAI's filing pointed to two specific Apple practices it said created the conditions for the dispute, that Apple encourages employees to use personal iCloud accounts for work documents, making it difficult to separate personal and company files after they leave, and that Apple's practice of immediately escorting departing employees off the premises leaves little time to return devices or properly transfer files and responsibilities. OpenAI also submitted evidence showing an Apple manager remained in contact with Chang Liu's personal iCloud account after he left, at one point asking him for help with technical questions about Apple projects

OpenAI argued the lawsuit represents an attempt by Apple to hamper a competitor and discourage employees from moving to rival companies, invoking California's long standing legal protections for workers who choose to join competing firms. Apple's complaint, filed in July, alleges the two former engineers orchestrated a scheme to bring proprietary Apple hardware designs and manufacturing methods into OpenAI's hardware work. Curious what people think about this kind of dispute given how many AI companies are now actively hiring away hardware talent from established tech giants

Openai Says Apple Has Only Itself To Blame In Tradesecret Fight 4883498www.investing.com

[Lantern76]

The detail about an Apple manager staying in contact with a former employee's personal iCloud account after he left, then asking him for help, genuinely undercuts Apple's own security narrative pretty significantly if it holds up

[Stu96]

Encouraging personal iCloud use for work documents and then escorting people out immediately on departure is a genuinely contradictory set of practices, hard to argue files were properly protected if the offboarding process itself created the exposure

[ThoughtVector]

This being framed as OpenAI poaching Apple's hardware talent specifically is worth noting, that's a different kind of tension than the usual AI lab rivalry, this is really about physical device design and manufacturing expertise

[Scott97]

A mess of Apple's own making is a genuinely aggressive line for a legal filing, OpenAI clearly isn't just trying to defend against the claims here, it's trying to actively damage Apple's credibility on security practices more broadly

[Luca99]

Curious how much of Apples actual case rests on the forensic analysis of that MacBook mentioned in earlier coverage versus the broader pattern of behavior OpenAI is now trying to reframe as Apple's own procedural failure

[Tia_75]

California's protections for employees moving between competing companies are famously strong, and OpenAI leaning hard into that legal tradition here is a smart strategic choice given how much precedent already favors worker mobility in that state