OpenAI has responded to Apple’s trade secrets lawsuit, and this is no ordinary corporate denial. The company has published actual text messages and emails to support its side of the story, turning what could have been a dry legal dispute into something far more personal and uncomfortable.
It is genuinely shocking to see a company as large as OpenAI release private conversations involving Apple employees, former Apple workers, in-house lawyers, and outside counsel. Companies usually hide this sort of material behind carefully worded statements and court filings. OpenAI instead appears determined to let the messages speak for themselves.
The dispute centers on former Apple employees who later joined OpenAI, including longtime Apple executive Tang Tan and Chang Liu. Apple has accused former employees of retaining, accessing, or attempting to use confidential company information after leaving.
OpenAI says Apple’s version of events is inaccurate, incomplete, and in some cases based on mistakes that Apple has already admitted.
One of the strangest claims involves Apple’s effort to contact OpenAI in February. Apple apparently said its lawyers reached out and received no response, but OpenAI says the message was sent to the wrong person after Apple’s outside counsel confused two Asian last names.
That detail is hard to ignore. OpenAI is very deliberately highlighting the fact that the mistake involved two Asian surnames, rather than simply calling it an email mix-up. The wording seems designed to suggest, at minimum, a degree of cultural ignorance or carelessness. Some readers may interpret it as a subtle accusation of racial bias, although OpenAI stops short of directly calling Apple or its lawyers racist.
OpenAI also says Apple’s outside lawyer falsely claimed to have spoken with OpenAI General Counsel Che Chang. The published emails show Chang telling Apple’s legal team that he had never spoken to the lawyer and questioning why the attorney claimed otherwise.
The outside lawyer later apologized and explained that the email had been intended for another person. According to OpenAI, Apple never raised the specific allegations now included in its lawsuit during those exchanges. OpenAI says it then heard nothing further for roughly five months before Apple went to court.
The text messages involving Chang Liu are even more surprising. OpenAI says Apple accused Liu of accessing confidential information after leaving, but the messages appear to show Apple employees repeatedly asking him for help.
In the conversations, Apple workers ask Liu to assist with locating files, transferring material, answering technical questions, and remembering details about ongoing Apple projects. In one exchange, an Apple employee tells Liu that he is still the best person to ask, even though he no longer works for the company.
That does not automatically prove Apple’s lawsuit is baseless, but it certainly complicates the story. It is difficult for Apple to portray all post-employment access or communication as suspicious when its own employees were apparently encouraging some of it.
The messages also raise questions about Apple’s offboarding procedures. OpenAI claims former employees can retain access to Apple files because the company does not always remove permissions properly when workers leave.
That explanation could become important. There is a meaningful difference between a former employee secretly breaking into a system and someone discovering that access remains active because the previous employer failed to shut it down.
OpenAI also defended Tang Tan, who spent more than 24 years at Apple. The company says Tan made it clear that OpenAI did not want confidential information from Apple or any other previous employer.
Of course, OpenAI is presenting the evidence that best supports its own position. Apple will have the opportunity to challenge the context, authenticity, and meaning of the communications in court. A collection of selected emails and messages does not settle a trade secrets case by itself.
Still, Apple has a public relations problem here. OpenAI has released conversations that make Apple’s internal practices look disorganized, while also suggesting the lawsuit relies on claims that changed over time.
Apple built its reputation by obsessing over details. Confusing names, misstating conversations, leaving former employees with access, and allowing current employees to continue asking them for help does not exactly fit that image.
The lawsuit will ultimately be decided using evidence, not blog posts. For now, though, OpenAI has managed to make Apple look careless, aggressive, and strangely unprepared for the possibility that its own messages would become public.
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