{"id":622653,"date":"2026-08-05T23:27:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T23:27:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/622653\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T23:27:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T23:27:22","slug":"apple-says-more-ex-employees-may-have-taken-confidential-data-to-openai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/622653\/","title":{"rendered":"Apple says more ex-employees may have taken confidential data to OpenAI"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s technology. The iPhone maker also claims that more of its former employees may be involved with the trade secrets theft.<\/p>\n

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\u2019s former lead designer Jony Ive.<\/p>\n

Apple also notes that its continued investigation has so far revealed 11 other former Apple employees beyond Liu and Tan may have been witnesses or otherwise involved in the case, and others who were previously named in the original complaint, like OpenAI employee Yu-Ting Peng.<\/p>\n

The filing marks an escalation in Apple\u2019s legal battle with OpenAI, as it suggests Apple has uncovered new evidence that the misconduct goes beyond the former employees named in the original complaint. <\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, another former Apple employee seems to have met with Mr. Liu and Ms. Peng in advance of Ms. Peng\u2019s interview at OpenAI and discussed with them during that meeting Apple proprietary information relating to unannounced products,\u201d the filing states. \u201cYet another former Apple employee took screenshots of confidential Apple documents relating to an unannounced Apple product before an interview at OpenAI.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd, after Apple filed its complaint, multiple former Apple employees now working at OpenAI reached out to discuss returning Apple-issued work devices they kept when they left Apple,\u201d Apple claims, suggesting there were more who were possibly involved with the scheme. <\/p>\n

Apple is pushing the court to allow for expedited discovery because it believes it has good cause to suspect that there are others involved in the theft of its intellectual property. The company noted that its motion for a preliminary injunction is also pending.<\/p>\n

OpenAI responded publicly to Apple\u2019s latest, saying in a blog post <\/a>that Apple\u2019s request for a preliminary injunction is \u201cboth based on false information and completely unnecessary because we do not have, nor want, any of their trade secrets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re much more interested in building innovative products and technologies that push the frontier,\u201d OpenAI\u2019s statement reads.<\/p>\n

The AI model maker also pointed to earlier mistakes Apple made, which had been reported,<\/a> including that Apple emailed the wrong person when it made contact with OpenAI after confusing two similar surnames. OpenAI also alleges that Apple lied about discussing matters with its general counsel. And, the company said that Apple didn\u2019t admit to the claim that the \u201cresidual access\u201d allowing former employees to access Apple\u2019s system was the result of poor security procedures on Apple\u2019s part.<\/p>\n

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission<\/a>. This doesn\u2019t affect our editorial independence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Apple is now seeking a preliminary injunction in its trade secrets case against OpenAI, which aims to stop…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":622654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[261],"tags":[291,311,289,290,18,19,17,10019,307,82],"class_list":["post-622653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-artificial-intelligence","tag-ai","tag-apple","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-lawsuit","tag-openai","tag-technology"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/117045496793148110","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=622653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/622654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}