OpenAI has responded publicly to Apple's trade secret lawsuit with a set of chat messages and emails that shift attention toward how Apple handled former employees, internal access, and early communications with OpenAI.
The dispute centers on allegations that former Apple engineer Chang Liu improperly accessed confidential information after joining OpenAI. Apple also claims OpenAI encouraged departing Apple employees to take files and specifications during their notice periods. OpenAI denies the framing and says Apple's approach has been sloppy and unnecessarily aggressive.
What Apple Alleges
Apple sued OpenAI in a federal court in California, accusing the company of systematic theft of trade secrets. The complaint names Chang Liu as one part of the case and says he accessed confidential information after moving to OpenAI.
The lawsuit also makes a broader claim: that OpenAI actively encouraged employees leaving Apple to bring proprietary files and specifications with them. That allegation matters because it moves the dispute beyond one former engineer and into OpenAI's hiring practices and internal standards.
According to the complaint, more than 400 former Apple employees now work at OpenAI. The case is also tied to OpenAI's growing hardware ambitions around io Products, the startup co-founded by Jony Ive, Apple's iconic former designer.
OpenAI's response does not simply deny the allegations. It tries to undermine Apple's version of events by showing that Apple employees continued to treat Liu as a technical resource after he had left the company.
The Messages OpenAI Released
According to the published messages, Liu's last day at Apple was January 22, 2026. OpenAI says that on that day and during the weeks that followed, Apple employees contacted him repeatedly with technical questions and requests for help finding internal files.
One message from January 27, 2026, shows an Apple employee asking Liu for a technical assessment and writing, "Of course, I could ask several folks, but you are the best. Even if you don't work here anymore." Liu responded with details about internal Apple decisions.
OpenAI also points to a February 14, 2026 message in which the same employee asked about schematics. Then, on March 5, Liu was added to a group chat with several Apple employees. In that conversation, he pointed them toward internal folders and contacts.
OpenAI emphasizes that Liu eventually stopped the exchange himself. His message read: "Hi, this is highly irregular, please remove me from this thread."
For OpenAI, these exchanges support a different story from the one Apple presents in court. Rather than showing a former employee secretly exploiting access for OpenAI's benefit, the messages show Apple employees asking Liu for help after he had already left.
The Access Management Issue
OpenAI argues that the messages reveal a problem it calls "residual access." In plain terms, that means a former employee may still have access to systems after leaving a company. OpenAI says this is a known issue at Apple caused by poor access management.
The argument is important because it reframes part of the case. If Apple employees were still reaching out to Liu and pulling him into internal discussions, OpenAI can argue that Apple's own practices contributed to the situation it now describes as misconduct.
That does not automatically settle the dispute. The messages may be useful to OpenAI's defense, but they do not erase Apple's larger claim that OpenAI encouraged incoming employees to bring proprietary information. The chat logs mainly speak to Liu's interactions with former colleagues and Apple's internal access controls.
OpenAI also rejects Apple's allegations involving Tang Tan, who spent more than 24 years at Apple and was considered one of the company's most innovative executives. According to OpenAI, Tan consistently told his team that proprietary information from other companies was neither welcome nor to be used.
Emails Add Another Dispute
OpenAI's response also challenges how Apple first contacted the company. Apple had claimed it reached out to OpenAI as early as February and did not receive a response.
According to emails published by OpenAI, an outside lawyer hired by Apple wrote to the wrong person because he confused two Asian last names. The lawyer also claimed to have spoken by phone with OpenAI's General Counsel, which OpenAI says never happened.
OpenAI says Apple acknowledged both errors only after OpenAI pointed them out. It also says the specific allegations that later appeared in the lawsuit were not raised in that earlier correspondence.
Instead, Apple's lawyer said the company was working to "sort out any issues." After that, OpenAI says five months of silence followed before Apple filed suit.
What The Fight Now Turns On
The published messages and email details give OpenAI a stronger public narrative. They suggest Apple employees continued relying on Liu after his departure and that Apple's early outreach to OpenAI was flawed.
Still, the most serious questions remain unresolved. The messages may show that Apple had access-management problems, but they do not directly disprove the broader accusation that OpenAI encouraged new hires to bring proprietary information.
That distinction is central. OpenAI is using the released communications to challenge Apple's credibility and highlight inconsistencies. Apple, meanwhile, has made claims that reach beyond Liu and into OpenAI's conduct around hiring and confidential information.
For now, the case sits at the intersection of AI hiring, hardware ambitions, trade secrets, and employee mobility. The documents OpenAI released complicate Apple's account, but the core legal fight remains about whether confidential Apple material was improperly taken, accessed, or encouraged after employees moved to OpenAI.