OpenAI hits back at Apple's lawsuit — and says it has receipts

OpenAI says Apple got some of its facts wrong — and says it has the receipts to back it up.

In a Tuesday blog post, OpenAI called Apple’s July complaint accusing the ChatGPT maker of stealing trade secrets a “careless, aggressive and oddly personal lawsuit.” OpenAI said Apple had made mistakes when it earlier contacted the AI lab about its concerns, including “emailing the wrong person after confusing two Asian last names.” Last month, Apple filed a suit against OpenAI, accusing it of stealing trade secrets using a “coordinated pattern of misconduct at an institutional level.” Apple said that a former employee who joined OpenAI exploited an authentication bug, that OpenAI asked Apple engineers to bring in proprietary hardware during job interviews, and that OpenAI leadership “normalized” such conduct.

OpenAI denied wrongdoing at the time and said that it was not interested in Apple’s trade secrets.

Neither company immediately responded to a Business Insider request for comment.

In Tuesday’s post, OpenAI shared what it said were copies of email correspondence showing that Apple’s outside counsel mistakenly sent OpenAI’s general counsel a follow-up that had been intended for a former Apple employee. “Apple had claimed that they contacted OpenAI in February and that we didn’t respond,” OpenAI wrote in its blog post. “They now admit that their outside lawyers emailed the wrong person after confusing two Asian last names—only after we brought this to their attention.” OpenAI added that “Apple also claimed they had a discussion with our General Counsel, which they now concede never happened.” In its lawsuit, Apple alleged that OpenAI benefited from confidential information taken by former Apple engineer Chang Liu and former design executive Tang Tan.

OpenAI said in its blog post that Apple now concedes that Apple employees reached out to Liu, not the other way around.

OpenAI published what it said were messages between Liu, who now works for OpenAI, and former Apple colleagues.

They show Apple employees asking him to help locate files and answer technical questions after his departure on January 22. “This is a common issue with Apple which is caused by them failing to properly manage system access when people leave,” OpenAI wrote in its blog post. “Former employees who are trying to do the right thing when they leave still have access to Apple files—despite not wanting them or even being aware of them.” The messages also show Liu helping with file transfers around his departure and subsequently answering questions about Apple projects.

OpenAI’s response is the latest escalation in what was one of Silicon Valley’s most high-profile AI partnerships.

The relationship frayed after OpenAI accelerated its consumer hardware efforts by hiring former Apple talent, including Jony Ive, the iPhone maker’s ex-chief design officer.