Apple says ex-employee's MacBook shows he used stolen trade secrets at OpenAI
Apple reveals 'shocking evidence' from ex-employee's MacBook in OpenAI suit
In a supplemental brief filed in its lawsuit against former employee Chang Liu and OpenAI, Apple reveals forensic evidence from Liu's MacBook indicating he used Apple's trade secret power-converter circuit while working at OpenAI. The brief argues that feeding such secrets into AI agents creates irreversible harm and that Liu and his wife discussed restoring and using Apple-owned devices after learning of the investigation, risking evidence destruction. Apple urges the court to grant expedited discovery.
Where trade secret information is fed into an AI agent or model that 'learn[s]' from it, such 'learning' may create irreversible and continually propagating uses of the trade secret—harm that, at a minimum, is uniquely challenging to undo and requires prompt investigation.