OpenAI fires back at Apple with leaked iMessages in trade secrets spat

OpenAI isn’t waiting for a courtroom to defend itself. In a remarkably public counterpunch, the company published a blog post titled “Apple is getting this wrong,” airing internal iMessages and emails to dismantle allegations in Apple’s trade secrets lawsuit. The move transforms a confidential legal skirmish into a PR battle, with OpenAI betting that radical transparency—or at least its version of it—will win public sympathy. “Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction is both based on false information and completely unnecessary because we do not have, nor want, any of their trade secrets,” OpenAI wrote, calling Apple’s legal strategy “careless, aggressive, and oddly personal.”

The core dispute circles two former Apple employees who now hold significant roles at OpenAI: Chang Liu, an ex-iPhone engineer, and Tang Tan, Apple’s former head of iPhone and Apple Watch design now serving as OpenAI’s chief hardware officer. Apple alleges Liu kept a company laptop, exploited an authentication flaw to access cloud storage after departing, and even coached a colleague on swiping files while dodging security. OpenAI’s rebuttal flips that narrative entirely. It claims Apple itself asked Liu to help locate information after he left, then blamed him for “residual access” problems that OpenAI characterizes as a systemic failure in how Apple manages offboarding.

OpenAI also published what it says are the actual iMessages Liu exchanged with an Apple employee, framing them as proof of cooperation rather than theft. On the Tan front, Apple claims he solicited confidential details from Apple interviewees. OpenAI counters that Tan explicitly barred the use of competitor secrets. The blog post further accuses Apple’s outside lawyers of emailing the wrong person due to a mix-up of similar Asian last names, only later conceding they never spoke with OpenAI’s General Counsel. This level of granular, document-backed pushback is rare in corporate legal fights, especially this early.

The real fight here might be less about stolen files and more about hardware ambition. Apple’s request for an injunction—aimed at preventing Liu, Tan, and OpenAI from accessing or using any alleged secrets—signals deep anxiety over OpenAI’s physical product roadmap. Tan’s title as chief hardware officer should worry Cupertino. A company that redefined personal computing doesn’t want the architect of its most successful devices building the physical interface for the next era of AI. OpenAI’s blog post isn’t just a defense; it’s a signal that it won’t be intimidated out of competing for the same talent and possibly the same users.