A laptop is doing a lot of legal work right now. Apple has added new allegations to its trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI, and the latest filing zeroes in on what forensic analysis of one MacBook allegedly revealed about a former employee’s activities after he left the company.
The employee at the center of this new filing is Chang Liu, a former senior system electrical engineer at Apple. According to Apple’s document, filed in support of a push for expedited discovery, Liu retained access to Apple’s third-party cloud storage after departing and used it to download dozens of confidential files, including at least one circuit schematic. Apple then claims Liu ran simulations using that schematic while working at OpenAI. The filing goes further, alleging that Liu used internal engineering tools, or software with names identical to them, during his time at OpenAI. That detail matters because it moves the accusation beyond file theft into active use of proprietary materials.
There’s also an obstruction angle. Apple claims that once Liu learned he was under internal investigation, he asked a colleague at OpenAI to “restore” any Apple-issued devices, which Apple characterizes as an attempt to wipe forensic evidence. That’s the kind of allegation that tends to complicate a defendant’s position significantly, regardless of what the underlying facts turn out to be.
This latest move is part of a lawsuit Apple filed against OpenAI earlier in 2026. In August, Apple escalated by requesting expedited discovery and expanding its allegations to cover 11 former employees it claims shared proprietary information with OpenAI. OpenAI pushed back hard, calling the charges “careless, aggressive and oddly personal” while denying any wrongdoing.
The broader context here matters. OpenAI has been building toward a hardware business, and Apple has obvious competitive reasons to be sensitive about any technical knowledge flowing from its engineering teams to a rival working on AI devices. Trade secret cases in tech are common, but they rarely name this many former employees or move this fast toward discovery. Apple clearly wants access to OpenAI’s internal records before anything gets lost or overwritten.
For developers and founders watching the AI hardware space, this case is a signal. The race to build AI-native devices is already triggering legal battles over who owns foundational engineering knowledge. That pressure is only going to increase as more companies, from OpenAI to Google to startups, chase Apple’s hardware expertise by hiring its people.
