Apple’s trade secret lawsuit against OpenAI is packed with a series of extraordinary allegations that paint a picture of a coordinated effort to extract confidential information from current and former Apple employees. But what’s perhaps most surprising is how matter-of-factly the alleged misconduct is described, including a message that reads, “LOL, I found out I can access the [network storage]very funny.”

The 41-page complaint, which was filed Friday, is filled with unusually detailed allegations, like this one and others. These are some of the ones that caught our attention the most.

• “Normalized and exemplified by leadership.” With this description of OpenAI, Apple is making it clear that its lawsuit is not just about dishonest employees, but that misconduct like this is part of OpenAI’s culture and is directed from the top.
• “Rotten to the core.” Let Apple use a rotten fruit analogy in its criticism of OpenAI’s behavior in this case. The AI ​​model maker is rumored to be working on a hardware device to challenge the iPhone, potentially a smartphone of its own. But Apple wants to emphasize that what OpenAI is developing was supposedly built with Apple trade secrets. “OpenAI’s nascent hardware business now rests on the shakiest of foundations, rotten to the core by its unlawful reliance on misappropriated trade secrets,” the complaint states.
• “This is the tip of the iceberg.” In addition to documenting the allegations against its former employees, Apple suggests that the alleged misconduct described in the complaint is only a fraction of what it will uncover once the discovery process begins. In the discovery, corporate documents and communications, including text messages and emails, are obtained, potentially revealing other examples of this type of behavior at OpenAI. “The discovery will expose that misappropriation has been occurring on a scale many times greater than the various cases described below,” Apple’s complaint states.
• “LOL, I discovered that I can access the [network storage]very funny.” Apple says that Chang Liu, previously a senior systems electrical engineer at Apple before joining OpenAI, sent this message to an Apple employee, Yu-Ting “Alyssa” Peng, who was allegedly a conduit between Apple and OpenAI. Peng later left to join OpenAI, but she is not a defendant in the lawsuit. Peng reportedly responded to the message: “I’m ready.” Apple claims that Liu was able to access Apple systems by exploiting an authentication error, which he did from his former colleague’s Apple-provided work computer.
• “I still have another computer.” Liu also allegedly texted this a few hours after leaving Apple, referring to another Apple computer that he allegedly planned to use to access confidential Apple information. Apple discovered the message on her former colleague’s Apple-issued work laptop.
• “I didn’t even know we could bring them to the office.” One of the wildest allegations is that OpenAI job candidates working at Apple were directed by OpenAI hardware director Tang Yew Tan, who spent 24 years at Apple, most recently as vice president of product design for iPhone and Apple Watch, to bring “real Apple parts” to their interviews at OpenAI for “show-and-tell sessions.” One candidate was surprised by the request and said he didn’t even realize Apple parts could be taken out of the office, Apple alleges. Apple also says that employees were instructed to bring “CAD/design artifacts” and “prototypes” to interviews.
• Avoid the “dreaded strike”. Apple alleges that OpenAI trained outgoing Apple employees on how to circumvent Apple’s security procedures to reduce the chance that their alleged theft of trade secrets would be discovered. The complaint claims that OpenAI circulated an internal Apple document with a “Need to Know” designation for new employees with details on how to avoid the “dreaded strike,” which would immediately remove them from Apple after giving notice, rather than allowing them to continue working for the typical two weeks, which would allow them more time to access confidential Apple information.
• “Inform OpenAI ‘as soon as possible'” if you are asked to sign something when leaving Apple. In addition to helping OpenAI job candidates avoid Apple’s security procedures, the complaint alleges that if Apple asked outgoing employees to sign something in an exit interview, they were required to inform OpenAI immediately and advise them not to sign.
• “More than four hundred former Apple employees now work at OpenAI.” Another surprise: The complaint reveals the extent to which Apple employees left the iPhone maker to work at OpenAI. Apple uses this figure to give a sense of the potential magnitude of the problem, noting that “it is not surprising that certain OpenAI personnel are aware of Apple’s confidential and proprietary information, which they are required to keep confidential. But OpenAI has resorted to exploiting this confidential information…”
• “io…accesses, exploits and uses Apple’s secret and proprietary industrial design techniques, processes and knowledge related to metal finishing.” Founded by former Apple employees including Jony Ive, the io company was acquired by OpenAI last year in a $6.5 billion deal. Now, io is a defendant in this lawsuit, as Apple alleges that the company used its industrial design techniques to deceive Apple’s partner into believing it had Apple’s permission to perform a “confidential metal finishing technique,” the complaint states. Apple also alleges that OpenAI approached a supplier using its confidential information about design and components related to power and batteries, including using “in-house terminology” to ask specific questions that “only Apple insiders would know how to ask.”
• “Apple has no choice.” Although it seems like typical legal language, in this case it seems that Apple may have tried to resolve the situation out of court first. The tech giant says it first tried to contact OpenAI in February, expressing its concerns, but OpenAI never responded.

So far, OpenAI has only made public comments via a statement shared on X on Friday, which reads: “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets. We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.”