{"id":52836,"date":"2026-08-04T14:59:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T18:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=52836"},"modified":"2026-08-04T14:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T18:59:14","slug":"openai-open-letter-responds-to-apple-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2026\/08\/04\/openai-open-letter-responds-to-apple-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"OpenAI Open Letter Responds to Apple Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sarah Perez<\/a> (Hacker News<\/a>):<\/p>\n

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Apple is now seeking a preliminary injunction in its trade secrets case against OpenAI,<\/a> which aims to stop the AI model maker from moving forward with developing an AI device or other products based on Apple’s technology. […] In a new filing<\/a>, Apple is requesting expedited discovery from the accused OpenAI employees, senior systems engineer Chang Liu and Chief Hardware Officer Tang Yew Tan; OpenAI, and its foundation; and io, the device startup co-founded by Apple’s former lead designer Jony Ive.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

OpenAI<\/a> (Hacker News<\/a>, ArsTechnica<\/a>, The Verge<\/a>, MacRumors<\/a>, 9To5Mac<\/a>):<\/p>\n

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Apple had claimed that they contacted OpenAI in February and that we didn’t respond. They now admit that their outside lawyers emailed the wrong person after confusing two Asian last names—only after we brought this to their attention. Apple also claimed they had a discussion with our General Counsel, which they now concede never happened. But they again hide the fact that they never raised the specific allegations in this lawsuit at that time, and that they in fact told us that they were “resolving any issues”. We then heard nothing for five months until they sued. In their latest filing, Apple tries hard to spin this sequence of events, but you can just read the emails for yourself here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Apple accuses Chang Liu of accessing Apple confidential information after leaving the company, but only now admits that Apple employees reached out to him and asked for his help to locate this information (you can read the messages here<\/a>). Apple now tries to shift the blame to “residual access”, but they also don’t disclose that this is a common issue with Apple which is caused by them failing to properly manage system access when people leave. What that means in practice is that former employees who are trying to do the right thing when they leave still have access to Apple files—despite not wanting them or even being aware of them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

William Gallagher<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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What it does not even touch is the accusation that Chang Liu retained his Apple laptop, which seems to be proven by what OpenAI posted. Apple further says that Liu entered shared network folders after leaving the company, and did so to download dozens of confidential files.<\/p>\n

Then, too, OpenAI ignores the specific further accusation that ex-Apple employee Tang Tan both emailed documents to himself and sought trade secrets from employees he was recruiting for the ChatGPT company.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

asimpletune<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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What really matters is the claim that Apple never raised those issues in the lawsuit with them. OpenAI claims the emails prove this, but to me all the emails prove is Apple sent an email that said “please see the attached letters”. We don’t know what is in the attachments but I imagine those were the relevant issues they raised.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

The fact that the lawyer emailed the wrong person is moot if they caught it and resolved it days later.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n