Apple has responded to OpenAI's allegations that a former employee who left for Apple took confidential files with him. The response, along with two supplementary exhibits, was made public in a new court filing.
The dispute follows an earlier Apple lawsuit filed this year against two former employees, Chang Liu and Tang Tan, OpenAI, and io Products. OpenAI's new filing claimed that a former employee who departed for Apple sent "over a hundred highly confidential files about at least one unreleased OpenAI device under development" to his personal accounts.
Apple said it has policies and procedures to ensure new employees do not use confidential information from previous employers, and it found no evidence supporting OpenAI's claims. The company noted that OpenAI filed the allegations "without any notice to Apple" and said they are unrelated to the claims in its main trade secret case. Apple also said the employee at the center of the allegations had left for OpenAI and later returned to Apple, where he works as an engineer on its Manufacturing Design team, focusing on iPhone.
Apple said it began investigating as soon as OpenAI raised the issue on October 9 and wrote to OpenAI on October 12 to say it could not locate any OpenAI confidential information. It requested more specific information to run further searches, but said OpenAI did not respond and instead filed Docket No. 176 with the court. Apple says it will continue working with OpenAI on the investigation and is taking steps to preserve evidence.
Source: 9to5Mac · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing