MacBook analysis adds evidence to Apple’s OpenAI suit

Apple says its initial forensic analysis of former engineer Chang Liu’s MacBook uncovered four findings that support its request for expedited discovery in the trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI. The filing, reported by 9to5Mac, says the computer was returned by Liu’s lawyers after he had used it following his departure from Apple.

The company describes the material as “shocking evidence” that confidential Apple information reached OpenAI and that evidence may have been targeted for destruction. Apple says the MacBook also points to another device, a Mac mini that later synchronized with it through iCloud.

At a glance

• Apple says the returned laptop shows that Liu used a confidential circuit schematic at OpenAI, while colleagues understood his access to Apple cloud services.
• The filing also describes instructions to destroy evidence, a colleague’s agreement to comply, and an OpenAI tool sharing a name with Apple’s internal engineering application.
• Apple wants expedited discovery and access to a Mac mini that synced the schematic to the MacBook through iCloud, while OpenAI seeks dismissal of the lawsuit.

The dispute now reaches beyond whether files were downloaded. If Apple’s account is substantiated, the case could test how trade-secret protections apply when engineering data is incorporated into an AI agent’s workflow. Apple’s position is that model or agent learning may make later uses irreversible and continuously propagating, raising a different evidentiary problem from a single copied file.

Apple’s lawsuit began with Liu’s move from Apple to OpenAI in January

Apple filed the lawsuit in July and later sought a preliminary injunction. A few weeks after that request, it asked the court to accelerate discovery through early document production and depositions of key OpenAI employees and executives. Apple renewed that request last week, while OpenAI has asked the court to dismiss the case.

Chang Liu is a former senior system electrical engineer at Apple who joined OpenAI in January. Apple alleges that, after leaving, Liu exploited a security bug to download confidential engineering files. The new filing focuses on a MacBook used after his departure, which Apple says Liu’s lawyers recently handed over for inspection.

Apple says Liu used an Apple circuit schematic in an OpenAI simulation

According to Apple, the forensic review found that Liu downloaded a confidential Apple circuit schematic and used it in his work at OpenAI. Apple also says Liu and others at OpenAI were aware of his unauthorized access to Apple’s third-party cloud storage, contradicting what the company describes as theories advanced by the defendants.

Apple alleges that Liu ran a simulation in March using the schematic in LTspice, an electrical engineering tool. Messages from around that time said Liu’s AI “agent” had learned to run LTspice and review its results. Apple argues that feeding trade-secret information into an agent or model that learns from it may create irreversible, continually propagating uses of that information.

Apple links the MacBook to a Mac mini through iCloud synchronization

Apple says it learned about Liu’s use of the schematic because he used the file on a Mac mini, which later synchronized through iCloud with the MacBook taken from Apple. The company now wants access to the Mac mini as part of the expedited discovery it is seeking.

Apple also says the defendants chose not to inspect the MacBook, despite its availability, and instead advanced theories that the device’s data disproves. The filing claims Liu sent instructions to an OpenAI colleague to destroy evidence after learning about Apple’s internal investigation, and that the colleague confirmed she would comply.

The court’s discovery decision

Apple is using the MacBook findings to argue that its requests are targeted rather than exploratory. The filing does not establish whether the court will grant access to the Mac mini, require the requested depositions, or allow the lawsuit to proceed. No timetable for those decisions is given in the available material, while OpenAI’s request for dismissal remains pending.