Apple Says OpenAI Let Evidence Vanish as Its AI Hardware Fight Deepens

Apple Says OpenAI Let Evidence Vanish as Its AI Hardware Fight Deepens
Apple and OpenAI’s legal clash began against a strikingly different backdrop. In June 2024, the companies announced plans to put ChatGPT on Apple devices, with Sam Altman saying they were making it easier for people to benefit from AI. But the partnership curdled as OpenAI moved toward consumer hardware, including its 2025 purchase of Jony Ive’s io startup.

By July, Apple had sued in federal court, accusing OpenAI and former Apple employees of taking trade secrets to develop AI hardware. Apple’s case centres on three former employees, including Chang Liu, whom it says retained an Apple-owned MacBook after leaving. On Aug. 3, Apple sought a preliminary injunction to stop any use of disputed information while the litigation continued; OpenAI then sought dismissal, arguing the claims lacked merit.

The fight sharpened after Apple received Liu’s laptop on Aug. 21. In a subsequent filing, Apple said its inspection found a confidential circuit schematic that Liu had allegedly downloaded and used in his OpenAI work. It also cited messages in which he allegedly discussed restoring and using Apple-owned devices after learning of an internal investigation.

Apple is now pressing for expedited discovery, arguing that logs, metadata and other forensic records are transient — and that the newly uncovered material shows a “very real risk of evidence destruction.” Its allegation is not merely that secrets travelled with departing staff, but that the digital trail needed to test that claim could be lost before the court reaches the merits.

OpenAI rejects both the factual and broader premise. It says there is no evidence Liu accessed Apple information improperly or for an improper purpose, and insists he had “no use for Apple confidential information.” Its filing casts the case as “a mess of Apple’s own making,” arguing that Apple cannot blame rivals for a flawed employee-exit process.

A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 1, when the judge will confront a dispute that has turned former AI partners into competitors fighting over talent, hardware and the evidence between them.

Continue reading https://foxvector.com/stories/01a070ee-7fcd-3ee9-71f3-06bb26ad118f