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OpenAI says former employee took confidential device files to Apple
OpenAI alleges a former employee who returned to Apple sent more than 100 confidential files about an unreleased device to personal accounts. The alleged files included device images, engineering and manufacturing data, supplier information, and documents on finishes and hardware coatings.
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Key takeaways
- OpenAI alleges a former employee who returned to Apple sent more than 100 confidential files about an unreleased device to personal accounts.
- The alleged files included device images, engineering and manufacturing data, supplier information, and documents on finishes and hardware coatings.
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openai.comCreate a landscape editorial hero image for this Studio Global article: What does OpenAI’s October 13, 2026, filing in federal court in San Jose allege about a former Apple employee who spent six months at OpenAI. Article summary: OpenAI alleges that a former employee who returned to Apple took more than 100 confidential files concerning an unreleased OpenAI device and later presented information about it to senior Apple leaders; Apple says it has. Topic tags: general, general web, user generated, news. Style: premium digital editorial illustration, source-backed research mood, clean composition, high detail, modern web publication hero. Use reference image context only for broad subject, composition, and topical grounding; do not copy the exact image. Avoid: logos, brand marks, copyrighted characters, real person likenesses, fake screenshots, UI text, readable text, watermarks, charts w
OpenAI alleges that a former employee who spent six months at the company before returning to Apple sent more than 100 confidential files about an unreleased device to personal accounts. The company says an ongoing forensic investigation tied to its dispute with Apple uncovered the transfers. Apple says it has found no evidence to support the allegations.
What OpenAI says the investigation uncovered
According to the court filing, the employee had previously worked at Apple, joined OpenAI for six months, and then returned to Apple. OpenAI alleges that he sent more than 100 highly confidential files concerning at least one unreleased device to personal accounts. Some of the transfers allegedly occurred shortly after midnight on June 2, 2026, his final day at OpenAI.
The filing describes the material as including detailed images of unreleased hardware, engineering and manufacturing data, supplier information, internal project documents, standards for cosmetic finishes, and reports on coating and sealing hardware components.
OpenAI also alleges that the former employee presented information about its product plans to senior Apple leaders, including Apple’s vice president of operations in Asia. The presentation was said to have taken place months before the filing; the public allegations do not establish that Apple used the information in a product.
The court document provided in the reporting is marked filed October 14, 2026—not October 13.
Why OpenAI raised Apple’s AI products and HomeView
OpenAI connected its concern about the alleged disclosure to Apple’s interest in AI-enabled hardware and pointed to Apple’s HomeView launch as part of that competitive context. Apple described HomeView as a smart-home device featuring an AI-upgraded Siri.20
That context does not show that HomeView, or any other Apple product, incorporated OpenAI’s confidential information. The reporting describes OpenAI’s concern about potential access and use, not a finding that the information was used.8
Apple’s response and OpenAI’s request for assurances
Apple said it has policies and procedures intended to prevent new employees from using confidential information from previous employers, and that it had found no evidence supporting OpenAI’s allegations. OpenAI, for its part, reportedly sought assurances that Apple did not possess or use the disputed material; the available reporting says OpenAI had not received the assurances it requested.
These remain competing claims in an active legal dispute. The filing’s allegations are not a court finding that Apple or the former employee misused OpenAI’s trade secrets.
How the allegations fit the Apple–OpenAI lawsuit
Apple filed suit on July 10, 2026, against OpenAI and two former Apple employees, accusing them of misappropriating Apple trade secrets to support OpenAI’s consumer-hardware efforts. Reporting identifies the former employees as Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan.
OpenAI has denied Apple’s trade-secret allegations, arguing that Apple had not shown that former employees stole confidential information. The new allegations reverse the direction of the dispute: OpenAI says a former employee took its own confidential product information to Apple. Neither side’s claims, by themselves, establish that the other company used trade secrets improperly.
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OpenAI alleges a former employee who returned to Apple sent more than 100 confidential files about an unreleased device to personal accounts. The alleged files included device images, engineering and manufacturing data, supplier information, and documents on finishes and hardware coatings.
Sources
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