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OpenAI denies Apple's allegations of trade secret theft in new federal court filing

OpenAI has denied Apple's allegations of trade secret theft in a new filing submitted to the U.S. District Court in San Jose, California. The company argued that the dispute is a result of Apple's own internal procedures, claiming that Apple's practice of immediately escorting departing employees off-site leaves insufficient time to return devices and internal files. OpenAI also noted that Apple encourages staff to use personal iCloud accounts for work, which can blur the boundaries between personal and company data. Apple countered that OpenAI is actively destroying evidence and that former iPhone engineer Chang Liu used a confidential circuit schematic at OpenAI. Apple's lawyers stated that a MacBook issued by Apple and used by Chang Liu since his departure provided evidence of unauthorized access to cloud storage and instructions for destroying evidence. OpenAI maintained that Chang Liu was simply trying to help a former colleague at Apple while accessing the cloud data. The company argued that employees are free to move between competitors and that Apple has been slow to adopt AI compared to OpenAI. Judge Edward J. Davila is scheduled to hear arguments on the motion for expedited pretrial fact-finding on October 1.

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