OpenAI struck back hard at Apple's lawsuit over stolen trade secrets. The company published internal messages showing Apple's own staff asked a departing employee to help locate confidential files, fundamentally undermining the case Apple just filed.
The lawsuit centers on two former Apple workers now at OpenAI: Chang Liu and Tang Tan. Apple claims they walked out the door with confidential information. But OpenAI's response reveals a messier picture. Liu's last day at Apple was January 22, 2026. Within days, current Apple employees were messaging him directly, asking him to find documents and complete file transfers. OpenAI published the iMessages to prove it.
How Apple Left the Door Open
The core problem, according to OpenAI, sits squarely with Apple's own security practices. When people leave, Apple apparently doesn't cut off system access properly. Liu retained "residual access" to files he didn't even know he still had. No active theft. No espionage plot. Just sloppy IT procedures that left a departing employee logged into systems after his employment ended.
For Tang, who spent 24 years at Apple before joining OpenAI, the company issued a statement making clear it has no interest in using confidential material from competitors. That message goes to the team explicitly.
The Numbers Behind the Exodus
The case highlights something Apple probably doesn't want emphasized: more than 400 former Apple employees already work at OpenAI. That's not a data breach. That's a talent drain. Engineers, designers, and product people moved from Cupertino to San Francisco for better opportunities or stock upside. It happens constantly in tech. Apple's timing and framing of this lawsuit as "oddly personal" and "careless, aggressive," in OpenAI's words, suggests the company felt blindsided or embarrassed rather than genuinely harmed.
OpenAI also disputed Apple's account of pre-suit contact, saying the timeline Apple presented misrepresents what actually happened. The company painted the lawsuit as more theater than substance.
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