Apple just raised the stakes in its trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI, filing what it calls “shocking evidence” that former employees stole confidential material for OpenAI’s benefit. According to TechCrunch AI, the new details surfaced after lawyers for ex-Apple engineer Chang Liu, who now works at OpenAI, handed over Liu’s old Apple work laptop for investigation earlier this month. What Apple found on that MacBook is the reason this case just got a lot more serious.
What Apple Is Alleging
Apple’s filing lays out specific claims, not vague suspicion. TechCrunch AI reports the company now alleges that Liu:
- Used a confidential Apple circuit schematic in his work at OpenAI.
- Ran a tool sharing a name with an internal Apple engineering application.
- Enlisted OpenAI colleague Yu-Ting Peng to help destroy evidence in June, once he learned Apple was investigating him.
Apple also claims OpenAI was “well-aware” of Liu’s access to Apple data. From the filing: “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 new evidence itself is redacted from public view. But earlier filings already included text messages from Liu, punctuated with “crying laughing” emojis, showing he knew he still had access to Apple files.
OpenAI’s Side
OpenAI has pushed back. The company says Liu only accessed Apple files after leaving, to help former colleagues who asked for help. In a blog post earlier this month, OpenAI argued that Apple is trying to “shift the blame to ‘residual access'” and that the lingering access “is a common issue with Apple which is caused by them failing to properly manage system access when people leave.”
Apple tells a different story. The company claims Liu kept his access because he “exploited a rare, previously unknown authentication bug.” That is a sharp distinction. Sloppy offboarding is an embarrassment. Exploiting a bug to stay inside a former employer’s systems is a deliberate act. TechCrunch AI has requested comment from OpenAI on the newest allegations.
Why This Matters
What stands out here is the remedy Apple is chasing. The company is seeking a preliminary injunction, a court order that would block OpenAI from working on hardware based on Apple’s technology while the case plays out. It is also asking for expedited discovery, a fast-tracked evidence-gathering process, because it believes more former employees may be implicated.
That last point is the one to sit with. Apple’s initial filing states that more than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI. Apple is not framing this as one bad actor. It is signaling a broader concern about how its people, and its know-how, are moving into a company that is very publicly building hardware.
The hardware angle is the real subtext. OpenAI has been assembling a device effort, and Apple owns one of the most valuable hardware playbooks on the planet. An injunction that restricts what OpenAI can build would be a direct hit to those ambitions, not just a legal nuisance.
What to Watch Next
A few things will tell you where this is headed:
- The injunction ruling: If a judge grants it, OpenAI’s hardware roadmap takes an immediate, concrete blow.
- Expedited discovery: If Apple gets it, expect more names and more laptops to enter the record fast.
- The evidence-destruction claim: Allegations of deleting evidence can reshape a case, shifting attention from what was taken to what was covered up.
For the industry, this is a reminder that the talent war between AI labs and incumbents has a legal underside. When hundreds of engineers cross from one company to a rival, the line between “knowledge in their heads” and “trade secrets on a laptop” gets tested in court. Apple just decided to test it in public.
Expect more filings, and more redactions, as both sides dig in. For the full breakdown of Apple’s allegations, check the original report at the source.