OpenAI disputes Apple's lawsuit over former Apple employees
On August 3, 2026, OpenAI published a blog post titled "Apple is getting this wrong" responding to a lawsuit Apple filed against it over two former Apple employees now apparently working at OpenAI, Chang Liu and Tang Tan. OpenAI disputes Apple's account of the events leading up to the lawsuit and released iMessages and email correspondence as supporting evidence.
According to OpenAI, Apple had claimed it contacted OpenAI in February 2026 and received no response. OpenAI says Apple's outside lawyers at Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP actually emailed the wrong person, having confused two Asian last names, and admitted the error only after OpenAI raised it. Apple also claimed it had held a discussion about the matter with OpenAI's General Counsel, Che Chang; OpenAI says Apple now concedes that discussion never happened. In a February 23, 2026 email, Apple's outside counsel Gabriel Gross told Che Chang that Apple was "resolving any issues" rather than raising the specific allegations later included in the lawsuit. OpenAI says it then heard nothing further from Apple for five months, until Apple sued.
On the substance of the allegations, Apple accuses Chang Liu, whose last day at Apple was January 22, 2026, of accessing Apple confidential information after he left the company. The iMessages OpenAI published show a former Apple colleague asking Liu, over several weeks in January and February 2026, to help locate files and information, including one message noting "I found a 64GB drive" to copy material onto. OpenAI says Apple only now admits its own employees reached out to Liu for help, and argues the real issue is what it calls "residual access": Apple's practice of not properly revoking former employees' system access when they leave.
Apple also accuses Tang Tan, who worked at Apple for more than 24 years, of trying to obtain and use its trade secrets. OpenAI says Tang has always told his team that OpenAI does not want and must not use confidential information from other companies, and describes him as one of Apple's most innovative former leaders.
OpenAI says it offered to work with Apple to resolve the matter before litigation began, and calls Apple's request for a preliminary injunction based on false information and unnecessary, stating that it does not have and does not want Apple's trade secrets.
Key facts
- OpenAI published "Apple is getting this wrong" on August 3, 2026, disputing Apple's lawsuit over former employees Chang Liu and Tang Tan.
- OpenAI says Apple's outside counsel emailed the wrong person after confusing two Asian last names, and admitted the error only after OpenAI pointed it out; Apple then went quiet for five months before suing.
- Published iMessages show a former Apple colleague asking Chang Liu, whose last day at Apple was January 22, 2026, for help locating files, including a message about finding a "64GB drive" to copy data onto.
- Apple accuses Tang Tan, a more than 24-year Apple veteran, of trying to obtain and use trade secrets; OpenAI says he has always told his team not to use other companies' confidential information.
- OpenAI calls Apple's request for a preliminary injunction based on false information and says it neither has nor wants Apple's trade secrets.
Why it matters
OpenAI's post is an unusually direct public rebuttal from one major tech company to another's active lawsuit, backed by raw evidence such as iMessages and email threads rather than a legal filing alone. It surfaces growing friction over talent moving between AI labs and established tech companies, and puts a spotlight on how each side frames access to a former employer's systems and files after someone leaves.
Who it affects
The dispute directly involves OpenAI, Apple, and two named former Apple employees who appear to now work at OpenAI, Chang Liu and Tang Tan. It also names Apple's outside counsel Gabriel Gross of Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP and OpenAI's General Counsel Che Chang, and more broadly concerns anyone moving between AI labs and legacy tech firms, since OpenAI frames the underlying access issue as Apple's own system-management problem rather than employee misconduct.
How to use it
Readers following the case should treat OpenAI's account as one side's version, built from documents OpenAI itself chose to publish, and watch for Apple's response and any court filings for the details the post leaves out, such as the exact allegations in the suit, the court, and the case number.
How solid is it
The account comes directly from OpenAI's own blog and is corroborated only by evidence OpenAI selected and published itself, including redacted iMessages and an email chain between the two companies' lawyers. There is no independent confirmation of the sequence of events, and Apple's filed complaint and its specific allegations are not shown or quoted in the post.
Risks and caveats
The account is one-sided by construction: OpenAI names Apple's outside lawyer and quotes its own General Counsel but does not disclose the exact claims in Apple's lawsuit, the court it was filed in, or the case number. No dollar figures or valuation for the alleged trade secrets are given, and the story concerns an active piece of litigation whose outcome is not yet known.
“This guy from Weil claims to be representing you. For some reason, he is lying about speaking with me on the phone. I don't know who he is and we have never spoken.”
— Che Chang, OpenAI's General Counsel