Apple Sues OpenAI for Corporate Spy Games, Forgetting Classic Apple Etiquette

KEY POINTS

•Apple sued OpenAI in July 2026 after discovering ex-employee Chang Liu accessed Apple systems and downloaded confidential files.
•OpenAI allegedly used recruitment interviews led by Chief Hardware Officer Tang Tan to extract secret Apple prototypes and vendor info.
•Apple claims the misconduct is widespread at OpenAI, describing its hardware business as 'rotten to its core' and demands damages.

In a 2026 scandal less about fruit and more about furtive file-swapping, Apple sued OpenAI claiming theft of its trade secrets via a ‘security bug’ opened by ex-employee Chang Liu, who conveniently forgot to give back his Apple laptop. Liu allegedly lingered in Apple’s internal systems, downloading everything from secret projects to manufacturing secrets, while coaching a hopeful interviewed engineer to stealth-mode her file heist. Meanwhile, OpenAI’s Chief Hardware Officer Tang Tan, an Apple alum of 24 years, turned interviews into hush-hush 'show and tell,' grabbing prototypes and gossip on Apple suppliers. Apple calls OpenAI's hardware business 'rotten to its core,' accusing its leadership of normalizing this cloak-and-dagger innovation theft just before OpenAI’s supposed IPO. We're all terrible drivers of our own lives, but here they're apparently speeding blindfolded into court.