Apple Reveals «Shocking Evidence» Against Former Employee Accused of Stealing Its Secrets for OpenAI

The legal confrontation between Apple and OpenAI has escalated after Apple presented what it described as «shocking evidence» supporting its accusations against former employees of stealing trade secrets for the rival artificial intelligence company. These developments add a new chapter to a dispute that reveals the scale of the fierce competition for talent and technology among tech giants in the fields of smart devices and artificial intelligence.

How Did the New Evidence Emerge?

The latest details came to light after the legal defense team for the former Apple employee, Zhang Liu — who currently works at OpenAI — handed over his old work laptop from Apple for investigation purposes earlier this month. Apple considered this device to represent the «bare minimum of information» provided by the defendants, after weeks of delay, asserting that it is not embarking on random «fishing expeditions» but rather possesses actual indicators of the use of its trade secrets and the destruction of evidence.

Detailed Accusations

Apple accuses the former employee of using a confidential circuit diagram of its own in his work at OpenAI, in addition to a tool bearing the same name as an internal engineering application belonging to the company. Apple goes further by claiming that OpenAI was «fully aware» of Liu's access to its data, and that he enlisted his OpenAI colleague, Yu-Ting Peng, to help destroy evidence last June when he learned that Apple was investigating him.

Although this new evidence was withheld from public view, earlier documents included text messages attributed to Liu, which he ended with «laughing until crying» emojis — something Apple considered proof of his awareness that he still had access to its files.

OpenAI's Defense

For its part, OpenAI had previously defended Liu by saying that he did not access Apple's files until after he stopped working there, and with the aim of helping former colleagues who had asked him to do so. The company responded in an official post that Apple is trying to shift the blame onto what is known as «residual access», ignoring the fact that this is a common problem resulting from Apple's failure to properly manage system permissions when employees leave.

However, Apple refutes this justification, asserting that Liu's continued access was not the result of negligence, but rather because he «exploited a rare, previously unknown authentication loophole».

What Is Apple Asking the Court For?

Through its lawsuit, Apple seeks a number of urgent judicial measures, most notably:

• A preliminary injunction preventing OpenAI from developing devices that rely on Apple's technologies throughout the duration of the case.
• An «expedited discovery» process to speed up the collection of evidence, arguing that other former employees may also be involved.

According to the initial lawsuit, more than 400 former Apple employees are now among OpenAI's ranks — a figure that explains part of Apple's growing concern about the leakage of its knowledge and secrets.

What Is the Significance of This Case?

This confrontation reveals the sensitivity of the issue of protecting trade secrets in a sector where the development race is accelerating, especially with reports of OpenAI's interest in entering the field of device manufacturing. While Apple insists that its evidence is strong and tangible, OpenAI insists that the matter is nothing more than technical mismanagement on the other party's part. So far, OpenAI has not commented on Apple's latest accusations. The outcome of this dispute remains an important indicator of how the judiciary handles cases of talent and knowledge transfer between major tech companies in the era of artificial intelligence.

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