Apple asks court to review OpenAI’s forensic work and disclose hardware R&D records

Apple has asked the court handling its lawsuit against OpenAI, former employees and io Products to give its experts access to forensic images and records concerning OpenAI’s hardware development.

In a joint filing made public last Friday, Apple said its expert found problems in the defendants’ analysis of devices used by former employee Chang Liu. Apple claims the defendants’ experts failed to locate files that were stored and used on a Mac mini and incorrectly treated zero-byte files and an empty last-used-date field as evidence that the files had not been accessed.

Apple seeks direct forensic access

Apple wants its experts to examine the underlying images used to analyze Liu’s devices. OpenAI opposes unrestricted access and proposes that a neutral expert handle the material under a jointly agreed protocol. Apple says that would disadvantage it because the defendants’ experts have already had direct access to the same evidence.

The lawsuit, filed in early July, concerns Apple’s allegations that former employees took confidential information with them. Apple has also said Liu used a confidential Apple circuit schematic for a simulation while working at OpenAI, and that a Mac mini became relevant after an inspection of his MacBook.

OpenAI hardware records disputed

Apple is seeking expedited access to records involving metal finishes, power management and battery functionality. It says the documents would allow it to test OpenAI’s claims that those technologies were developed independently and that Liu’s simulation was unrelated to the company’s upcoming product.

OpenAI calls the request overbroad and premature and says it amounts to an effort to snoop on a competitor. The company also argues that Apple has not shown why a separate expedited-discovery process is justified.

The filing covers additional disputes over forensic images from devices used by Liu, Tang Tan, Yu-Ting “Alyssa” Peng and another OpenAI employee; interview records from OpenAI’s Consumer Hardware Products Group; Liu’s alleged use of ChatGPT, Codex, Claude and OpenClaw; and interrogatories that OpenAI says could reach more than 400 former Apple employees. Apple also seeks the full LINE exchange between Liu and Peng, while the defendants have submitted only selected excerpts.