Apple says more ex-employees may have taken confidential data to OpenAI
Quick Answer
Apple is pursuing a preliminary injunction against OpenAI, alleging that more ex-employees may have stolen trade secrets, with 11 additional former employees potentially involved.
Quick Take
OpenAI refutes these claims, asserting they do not possess Apple's confidential information.
Key Points
- Apple claims 11 additional ex-employees may be involved in trade secrets theft.
- OpenAI's response states they do not possess any of Apple's trade secrets.
- Apple seeks expedited discovery from OpenAI employees Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan.
- New evidence suggests misconduct extends beyond initial allegations against Liu and Tan.
- OpenAI highlights Apple's prior mistakes in handling communications.
DeepSignal Analysis
What happened
Apple is seeking a preliminary injunction against OpenAI, alleging that more former employees may have stolen trade secrets. The company claims that 11 additional ex-employees could be involved, prompting a request for expedited discovery. OpenAI denies these allegations, asserting it does not possess any of Apple's confidential information.
Key evidence
- Apple's filing indicates that 11 former employees, in addition to Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan, may have been involved in the alleged trade secrets theft.
- The filing suggests that one former employee discussed proprietary information with OpenAI staff before an interview, while another took screenshots of confidential documents.
- OpenAI publicly refuted Apple's claims, stating that the request for a preliminary injunction is based on false information and asserting that they do not want any of Apple's trade secrets.
Why it matters
This legal battle highlights the ongoing tensions between tech companies over intellectual property and trade secrets, particularly in the competitive AI landscape. Apple's claims suggest a broader issue of data security and employee conduct, which could have implications for how companies manage proprietary information and the risks associated with former employees transitioning to competitors.
📖 Reader Mode
~3 min readApple is now seeking a preliminary injunction in its trade secrets case against OpenAI, which aims to stop the AI model maker from moving forward with developing an AI device or other products based on Apple’s technology. The iPhone maker also claims that more of its former employees may be involved with the trade secrets theft.
In a new filing, 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.
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.
The filing marks an escalation in Apple’s 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.
“For example, another former Apple employee seems to have met with Mr. Liu and Ms. Peng in advance of Ms. Peng’s interview at OpenAI and discussed with them during that meeting Apple proprietary information relating to unannounced products,” the filing states. “Yet another former Apple employee took screenshots of confidential Apple documents relating to an unannounced Apple product before an interview at OpenAI.”
“And, 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,” Apple claims, suggesting there were more who were possibly involved with the scheme.
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.
OpenAI responded publicly to Apple’s latest, saying in a blog post that Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction is “both based on false information and completely unnecessary because we do not have, nor want, any of their trade secrets.”
“We’re much more interested in building innovative products and technologies that push the frontier,” OpenAI’s statement reads.
The AI model maker also pointed to earlier mistakes Apple made, which had been reported, 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’t admit to the claim that the “residual access” allowing former employees to access Apple’s system was the result of poor security procedures on Apple’s part.
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Sarah has worked as a reporter for TechCrunch since August 2011. She joined the company after having previously spent over three years at ReadWriteWeb. Prior to her work as a reporter, Sarah worked in I.T. across a number of industries, including banking, retail and software.
You can contact or verify outreach from Sarah by emailing sarahp@techcrunch.com or via encrypted message at sarahperez.01 on Signal.
— Originally published at techcrunch.com
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