Apple accuses OpenAI of destroying evidence in exchange of barbs

Published Tue, Sep 1, 2026 · 02:51 PM — Updated Tue, Sep 1, 2026 · 06:30 PM

APPLE escalated its legal battle against OpenAI, claiming in a court filing that OpenAI is actively destroying crucial evidence and that former iPhone engineer Chang Liu “not only downloaded a confidential Apple circuit schematic but also used it in his work” at the artificial intelligence company. 

The court brief was filed on Monday (Aug 31) in support of Apple’s motion for expedited pre-trial fact-finding in the lawsuit, which accuses the ChatGPT maker of stealing trade secrets.

OpenAI has pushed to have the case dismissed and said in its own filing on Monday that “this dispute is a mess of Apple’s own making”.

Liu, who left Apple for OpenAI in January, is central to the case. He is one of more than 400 former Apple employees who went to work for the AI company, which is making a foray into the market for hardware devices.

According to Apple’s latest filing, OpenAI “only recently” provided a key piece of evidence: an Apple-issued MacBook that Liu had been using since departing the company.

An initial forensic analysis has found that “Mr Liu and others at OpenAI were well aware” of his continued unauthorised access to Apple’s third-party cloud storage providers, the filing said.

The laptop also contains evidence that Liu “sent instructions for destroying evidence to an OpenAI colleague who confirmed she would comply”, Apple’s lawyers said.

A key part of the original complaint accused OpenAI of encouraging Apple employees to share information, components, drawings and other materials related to unreleased products while taking steps to cover its tracks.

OpenAI has maintained that it adhered to industry-wide recruiting standards when interviewing candidates from Apple and insists that Liu was simply trying to help a former colleague at Apple when accessing the cloud data. It published text message excerpts to help bolster that argument.

In its filing on Monday, OpenAI reiterated its argument that any Apple documents accessed by Liu “are irrelevant” to his work at OpenAI. He opened them “on behalf of Apple employees, for Apple work purposes”, the ChatGPT maker said. 

OpenAI also reiterated criticism of Apple’s “sloppy procedures” around data security and employee exit management, saying they directly contributed to the situation.

“Apple now tries to bully the employees who left,” OpenAI’s lawyers wrote. “It is no wonder 400 of them chose new employment.”

OpenAI urged the court to “significantly narrow” Apple’s request for an injunction if one is granted at all, warning that the measure could “chill employee mobility”.

“Employees have choices,” OpenAI said. “They can leave a company like Apple that has struggled to adopt AI and move to an exciting startup that builds innovative products. Apple may not like those choices. But it cannot claim those choices are unlawful.”

Apple alleged in its filing that OpenAI has dragged its feet on producing evidence.

“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,” Apple’s lawyers wrote.

The filing also claims that Liu “used a tool in his work at OpenAI that has the same name as an internal Apple engineering application used for Apple development work”.

Apple is seeking monetary damages and an order requiring OpenAI to halt the alleged conduct and destroy any proprietary materials.

Earlier this month, Apple asked a federal judge to immediately order OpenAI to stop using stolen trade secrets. The judge is scheduled to hear arguments on the motion on Oct 1.

The once-cordial working relationship between the iPhone maker and ChatGPT creator has frayed over 2025, particularly after OpenAI enlisted former Apple design guru Jony Ive to help develop upcoming hardware products.

The first device from that collaboration will be a doughnut-shaped smart speaker, roughly the size of a hockey puck, that includes moving parts to lend the gadget personality, Bloomberg News has reported. BLOOMBERG