Overview
- Apple filed a new court brief reporting that forensic analysis of a returned Apple‑issued MacBook, produced after weeks of delay, shows a former engineer downloaded a confidential power‑converter circuit schematic and used it in work at OpenAI.
- Apple says internal messages on the laptop show the engineer trained an AI agent to run LTspice simulations on the schematic and that he sent instructions to an OpenAI colleague to destroy evidence after learning of an investigation.
- The company has asked the court for expedited pretrial discovery, device imaging, targeted depositions, and interim relief including an injunction to halt use of the alleged secrets; a judge will hear competing motions on October 1.
- OpenAI denies wrongdoing, has asked the court to dismiss the case, and blames Apple’s offboarding and cloud‑access practices for any post‑departure file access while warning broad remedies could limit worker mobility.
- The dispute could reshape how courts treat trade‑secret claims tied to AI training and hiring, and it directly touches hundreds of former Apple employees now at OpenAI as the parties fight over what evidence is collected and preserved.