9to5Mac Daily: August 4, 2026 – The latest Apple vs OpenAI drama

Apple has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that the AI lab stole trade secrets with the help of former Apple employees. According to TechRadar, Apple claims that two former employees, one a 25-year company veteran and another a decade-long iPhone electrical engineer, held onto Apple systems, asked OpenAI interviewees to share proprietary Apple information, and told partners that sharing Apple's manufacturing information was okay.

OpenAI has denied the allegations, and released a text chain between Lui Chang and a current unidentified Apple employee, as well as an email exchange that suggests Apple's counsel mistakenly contacted the wrong person, confusing Lui Chang with OpenAI's counsel, Che Chang. In a blog post, OpenAI stated that Apple's lawsuit is "careless, aggressive and oddly personal" and does not live up to Apple's reputation for attention to detail, as reported by Business Insider and Fortune.

The lawsuit, filed in July, alleges that OpenAI benefited from trade secrets taken by former Apple employees, including Chang Liu, a veteran Apple engineer who improperly retained and accessed confidential company information after leaving for OpenAI. OpenAI's response, according to Fortune, aims to publicly point out flaws in Apple's accusations and legal process, and potentially sway public opinion.

Brief written by urgent.news from 9to5Mac, TechRadar, Business Insider, Fortune — 4 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.