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Apple alleges ex-engineer fed stolen circuit schematic into OpenAI AI agent, directed colleague to destroy evidence
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Apple filed a new document in its lawsuit against OpenAI claiming forensic analysis of former engineer Chang Liu's MacBook shows he used a confidential Apple circuit schematic inside an AI agent workflow at OpenAI and instructed a colleague to destroy evidence.
For engineers, the filing turns on whether proprietary data fed into an AI agent becomes an "irreversible and continually propagating" use of that trade secret. The evidentiary hook is mundane: Apple says it traced the misuse because Liu used the schematic on a Mac mini that synced via iCloud to the laptop, turning consumer-grade device sync into a discovery channel. The procedural ask, access to that Mac mini and expedited discovery, will set the practical ceiling on how aggressively companies can chase trade-secret claims through AI tool-use trails.
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Apple alleges former engineer Chang Liu downloaded an Apple circuit schematic, ran it in LTspice at OpenAI, and told colleagues his AI "agent" had learned to use the tool.
The filing claims Liu messaged an OpenAI colleague with instructions to destroy evidence after learning of Apple's internal investigation, and that OpenAI personnel were aware of his unauthorized access to Apple's cloud storage.
Apple says defendants declined to inspect the MacBook and is now seeking forensic access to a Mac mini that allegedly synced with it via iCloud and contains the original schematic file.
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What the cluster adds up to.
The concrete news is a new filing in Apple v. Liu et al., not a verdict or a new cause of action. The document advances Apple's argument that expedited discovery is justified by laying out four specific allegations drawn from a forensic review of a MacBook that Liu's lawyers handed over. Apple's framing is pointed: it claims defendants ignored the device rather than inspect it, and it is now asking the court to grant access to a Mac mini that allegedly synced with the laptop via iCloud and still holds the schematic file in question.
The substantive allegation is that trade-secret misuse survived the move to OpenAI and persisted inside an AI agent workflow. Apple claims Liu ran a March simulation using the schematic in LTspice, an electrical engineering simulator, and described his AI "agent" learning to run LTspice and review the results. The filing argues that feeding confidential information into an agent or model that learns from it creates "irreversible and continually propagating uses of the trade secret," a theory that, if accepted, would meaningfully widen what counts as misappropriation in agent-driven work.
The evidentiary path is the part an engineer can actually evaluate. Apple says it traced the schematic usage because Liu used the file on a Mac mini that synced to the MacBook he took from Apple, the same consumer-grade sync behavior Apple ships to every user. The filing also alleges that, on learning of Apple's internal investigation, Liu messaged an OpenAI colleague with instructions to destroy evidence and that the colleague confirmed she would comply. The Mac mini is therefore both a piece of evidence and the next contested device in the discovery fight.
Procedurally, this is another escalation in Apple's push for expedited discovery, which OpenAI opposes and against which OpenAI has separately moved to dismiss the case. Apple filed the underlying suit in July, moved for a preliminary injunction shortly after, and is now reinforcing its urgency argument with the laptop contents. The consequential next steps are the court's ruling on dismissal and on the scope of discovery, especially whether Apple gets forensic access to the Mac mini.
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