Confidential Apple files followed former employees to OpenAI through iCloud

Apple's lawsuit against OpenAI has shed light on the issue of former employees maintaining access to confidential documents via their personal iCloud accounts. According to multiple sources, more than half a dozen former Apple staff have revealed that they were still able to view and access files shared with them during their tenure at the tech giant, even after their corporate permissions had been withdrawn.

Notably, these individuals continued to receive notifications when the files were updated. The confidential materials in question reportedly included plans for upcoming product launch events. The former employees stated that they did not deliberately attempt to preserve access to these files; rather, they discovered them inadvertently mixed in with their personal iCloud data.

This issue is believed to have originated from Apple's policy of enabling employees to link their personal Apple IDs to company-funded iCloud storage. As part of this arrangement, Apple provided employees with 2TB of storage, allowing them to consolidate this with an existing personal plan.