The wildest allegations in Apple’s trade secrets case against OpenAI

Apple’s trade secret lawsuit against OpenAI is packed with extraordinary allegations that paint a picture of a coordinated effort to extract confidential information from current and former Apple employees. But what is perhaps most striking is how casually the alleged misconduct is described, including a message that reads: “LOL, I found out I have access to the [network storage]so funny.”

The 41 pages complaintfiled Friday is filled with unusually detailed allegations, like this one and others. Here are some that stood out to us the most:

• “Normalized and illustrated by leadership.” With this description of OpenAI, Apple makes it clear that the lawsuit is not just aimed at rogue employees, but that this type of misconduct is part of OpenAI’s culture and is led from the top.
• “Rotten to the core.” Leave it to Apple to work a rotten fruit analogy into its criticism of OpenAI’s behavior in this case. The AI ​​model maker is rumored to be working on a hardware device to challenge the iPhone, possibly a smartphone of its own. But Apple wants to emphasize that what OpenAI is developing is reportedly built with Apple’s trade secrets. “OpenAI’s nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to the core by its illegal reliance on misappropriated trade secrets,” the complaint said.
• “This is the tip of the iceberg.” In addition to documenting the allegations against its former employees, Apple suggests that the alleged misconduct outlined in the complaint is only a fraction of what it will uncover after the discovery process begins. Discovery involves obtaining corporate documents and communications, including texts and emails, potentially uncovering other examples of this type of behavior at OpenAI. “The discovery will reveal that the embezzlement occurred on a scale many times greater than the various instances described below,” Apple’s complaint said.
• “LOL, I found out I can access the [network storage]so funny.” Apple says Chang Liu, formerly a senior systems engineer at Apple before joining OpenAI, sent this message to an Apple employee, Yu-Ting “Alyssa” Peng, who was reportedly a conduit between Apple and OpenAI. Peng later left to join OpenAI but is not a defendant in the lawsuit. Peng reportedly replied to the message: “I’m ready.” Apple claims that Liu was able to gain access to Apple’s systems by exploiting an authentication flaw, which he did from Peng’s Apple-issued work computer.
• “I have another computer.” Liu also allegedly sent this within hours of leaving Apple, referring to another Apple computer that he allegedly wanted to use to access Apple’s confidential information. Apple discovered the message on Peng’s Apple-issued work laptop.
• “I didn’t even know we could take that from the office.” One of the wildest allegations is that OpenAI job candidates working at Apple were directed by OpenAI’s head of hardware Tang Yew Tan, who spent 24 years at Apple, most recently as VP of product design for iPhone and Apple Watch, to bring “real parts” of Apple to their OpenAI job interviews for “show and tell sessions.” One candidate was surprised by the request and said he didn’t even realize Apple parts could be taken from the office, Apple claims. Apple also says employees were instructed to bring “CAD/design artifacts” and “prototypes” to interviews.
• Avoiding the ‘dreaded strike’. Apple claims that OpenAI coached departing Apple employees on how to circumvent Apple’s security procedures to reduce the chance that their alleged theft of trade secrets would be caught. The complaint alleges that OpenAI distributed an internal Apple document marked “Need to Know” to new hires detailing how to avoid the “dreaded strike,” which would immediately remove them from Apple upon notice, rather than allowing them to continue working for the usual two weeks, which would give them more time to access Apple’s confidential information.
• “Let OpenAI know ASAP” if you’re asked to sign anything when leaving Apple. The complaint alleges that in addition to helping OpenAI candidates circumvent Apple’s security procedures, if Apple were to ask departing employees to sign anything during an exit interview, OpenAI should immediately let them know and advise them not to sign.
• “More than four hundred former Apple employees now work at OpenAI.” In another surprise, the complaint reveals the extent to which Apple employees have left the iPhone maker to work for OpenAI. Apple uses this figure to paint a picture of the potential scope of the problem, noting that “it is not surprising that certain OpenAI personnel have knowledge of Apple’s confidential and proprietary information, which they are required to keep confidential. But OpenAI has resorted to exploiting this confidential information…”
• “io…accessed, exploited and used Apple’s secret, proprietary industrial design techniques, processes and know-how related to metal finishing.” The company io, founded by former Apple employees including Jony Ive, was acquired by OpenAI last year in a $6.5 billion deal. Now io is a defendant in this lawsuit, as Apple claims the company used its industrial design techniques by misleading Apple’s partner into believing it had Apple’s permission to perform a “confidential metal finishing technique,” according to the complaint. Apple also claims that OpenAI approached a supplier using its confidential design and component information related to power and batteries, and even used “internal terminology” to ask pointed questions that “only Apple insiders would know to ask.”
• “Apple has no choice.” While this may seem like typical legal language, in this case it appears that Apple may have tried to resolve the situation out of court first. The tech giant says it first tried to contact OpenAI in February to express its concerns, but OpenAI never responded.

So far, OpenAI has only responded publicly via a statement shared on X on Friday, which reads: “We have no interest in the trade secrets of other companies. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”