×

Apple alleges OpenAI employee accessed circuit plans after joining startup

By Thomson Reuters Aug 31, 2026 | 3:48 PM

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug 31 (Reuters) – Apple on Monday alleged that a defendant in ​its trade secret case ‌against ChatGPT creator OpenAI accessed a power converter circuit schematic while at OpenAI, according to ‌a ​filing in U.S. ⁠federal court.

•Apple alleged ⁠that Chang Liu, a former Apple senior system electrical engineer, accessed the circuit and ​trained an AI agent using proprietary Apple information ⁠in March ⁠2026.

•Apple says the new ​evidence came to light from ​a MacBook computer OpenAI provided ‌to Apple on August 21 as part of legal proceedings.

•Apple is asking a U.S. ⁠federal court to expedite discovery proceedings in the trade secret case ⁠against ‌OpenAI.

•OpenAI has sought to ⁠dismiss Apple’s lawsuit, ​saying ‌it is building products ​that are “entirely ⁠new.”

•OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(Reporting by Stephen Nellis in San Francisco; Editing by ​Matthew Lewis)