Apple Sues OpenAI Over Ex-Engineer's Theft of Trade Secrets; Alleges Weeks of Confidential Downloads

According to Apple's complaint filed Friday, the company is suing OpenAI, alleging that a former engineer who joined the competitor used an authentication bug to access and download dozens of confidential files from Apple servers weeks after his departure. Chang Liu, who spent eight years on Apple's sensitive product development programs, left for OpenAI in January 2026 but discovered an unknown bug on February 9 that allowed him to access Apple's shared network folders using a returned work laptop.

Apple alleges that Liu downloaded voluminous confidential information on unreleased products, engineering presentations, technical specifications, and proprietary project data without reporting the bug. The lawsuit claims Liu accessed these files over several weeks while developing hardware for OpenAI. Apple confirmed the bug was quickly fixed after discovering Liu's unauthorized access and that server logs show no evidence of other users exploiting it to steal data.