OpenAI rejects Apple trade-secret suit, calls it 'oddly personal'

OpenAI has publicly pushed back on Apple’s trade-secret lawsuit, publishing a post that called the case “careless, aggressive and oddly personal.”

OpenAI has also accused Apple of misstating the timeline of events that led to the filing. Notably, more than 400 former Apple employees already work at OpenAI. 

Is Apple’s lawsuit against OpenAI really personal? 

Apple’s case against OpenAI accuses Chang Liu, a former employee, of tapping confidential information after his departure. Apple has also accused Tang Tan of seeking and using its trade secrets. 

OpenAI responded to the lawsuit with a post unwinding Apple’s version of the events that led up to the suit. 

Directly addressing the claims in the suit, OpenAI revealed Apple’s own employees messaged Liu asking him to help them find files. To back that up, OpenAI published iMessages that it says are between Liu, whose last day at Apple was January 22, 2026, and former colleagues asking him to locate documents and complete file transfers. 

OpenAI says the “residual access,” which Liu had, is due to Apple failing to cut off system access when people leave, so departing staff keep getting access to files they neither want nor know they still hold.

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