Apple claims MacBook forensics show ex-engineer used its schematic at OpenAI

Apple details forensic findings from former engineer's MacBook

Apple has filed new documents in its trade secret lawsuit against OpenAI, saying an initial forensic examination of a MacBook used by former engineer Chang Liu produced what it calls "shocking evidence." The filing, reported by 9to5Mac on August 31, is the company's latest attempt to convince the court to grant expedited discovery.

Apple sued in July, alleging that former employees took confidential material to benefit OpenAI. Weeks later it moved for a preliminary injunction and asked the court to accelerate discovery, including early document production and depositions of key OpenAI employees and executives. Apple repeated that request the following week, while OpenAI has asked for the case to be dismissed.

Who Chang Liu is

Liu was a senior system electrical engineer at Apple who left for OpenAI in January. Apple alleges that after his departure he exploited a security bug to download confidential engineering files.

Four claims from the laptop

According to 9to5Mac's account of the filing, Liu's lawyers recently handed over the MacBook he used after leaving Apple. Apple's initial forensic analysis produced four central allegations:

• Liu did not merely download a confidential Apple circuit schematic; he also used it in his work at OpenAI.
• Liu and others at OpenAI were well aware that his access to Apple's third-party cloud storage was unauthorized.
• After learning that Apple was investigating him internally, Liu sent instructions for destroying evidence to an OpenAI colleague, who Apple says confirmed she would comply.
• Liu used a tool in his OpenAI work that carries the same name as an internal Apple engineering application used for Apple development work.

Apple also alleges that in March Liu ran a simulation in LTspice, an electrical engineering tool, using the schematic file, and that messages from around that time show him saying his AI "agent" had learned to run LTspice and review the results.

Why Apple is stressing the AI angle

Beyond the individual allegations, Apple advances a broader argument about AI systems: when trade secret information is fed into an agent or model that learns from it, that learning, in Apple's words, "may create irreversible and continually propagating uses of the trade secret." Apple is effectively asking the court to treat absorption into an AI system as a harm that cannot simply be undone by deleting files.

9to5Mac also reports that Apple says the defendants declined to inspect the laptop themselves and instead advanced theories that the device's data contradicts. According to the filing, Apple only learned of the schematic's use because Liu ran it on a Mac mini that later synced to the MacBook through iCloud, and Apple is now seeking access to that Mac mini as well.

The fight over the pace of discovery

Apple frames the findings as proof that it urgently needs expedited discovery, arguing that the MacBook represents the very limited material the defendants have produced so far, and only after weeks of delay. The company says the record shows it is not conducting a "fishing expedition" but that its trade secrets are actively being used and evidence is being destroyed. Whether the court accepts that reasoning, or sides with OpenAI's call for dismissal, will shape how quickly the case moves.

Why it matters

The dispute between two of the technology industry's most prominent companies is becoming an early test of how courts handle trade secrets that enter AI systems. If judges accept the argument that a model or agent which learns from confidential data creates irreversible, self-propagating uses, conventional remedies may no longer suffice, and plaintiffs could win far broader discovery and injunction powers. The case is also a warning to engineers moving between AI labs and established hardware makers: personal laptops, cloud sync services and internal chat logs can all become forensic evidence.