Apple shares ‘shocking evidence’ against former employee accused of stealing company data for OpenAI
Image Credits:Kirby Lee / Getty Images 5:13 PM PDT · August 31, 2026 In its lawsuit against OpenAI, Apple filed what it calls “shocking evidence” to bolster its allegations that former employees stole trade secrets for OpenAI’s benefit. These new details emerged after the legal counsel for former Apple employee Chang Liu — who now works at OpenAI — handed over Liu’s old Apple work laptop for investigation earlier this month.
Why It Matters
This story touches on apple, openai, evidence — topics readers are actively tracking. Review and add editorial context before publishing.
Key Facts
- Fact 1: Image Credits:Kirby Lee / Getty Images 5:13 PM PDT · August 31, 2026 In its lawsuit against OpenAI, Apple filed what it calls “shocking evidence” to bolster its allegations that former employees stole trade secrets for OpenAI’s benefit.
- Fact 2: According to Apple’s initial filing, more than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI.
- Fact 3: You can contact or verify outreach from Amanda by emailing amanda@techcrunch.com or via encrypted message at @amanda.100 on Signal.
Image Credits:Kirby Lee / Getty Images 5:13 PM PDT · August 31, 2026 In its lawsuit against OpenAI, Apple filed what it calls “shocking evidence” to bolster its allegations that former employees stole trade secrets for OpenAI’s benefit. These new details emerged after the legal counsel for former Apple employee Chang Liu — who now works at OpenAI — handed over Liu’s old Apple work laptop for investigation earlier this month.
Apple now alleges that Liu used a confidential Apple circuit schematic in his work at OpenAI, as well as a tool that shares a name with an internal Apple engineering application. The company claims that OpenAI was “well-aware” of Liu’s access to Apple data, and that Liu enlisted OpenAI colleague Yu-Ting Peng to help destroy evidence in June when he learned that Apple was investigating him. “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 filing reads.
(Original synthesis pending human/AI review — generated by the stub provider by selecting real sentences from the source material, not by writing new analysis or commentary.)
