Apple sues OpenAI after ex-engineer allegedly used bug to steal trade secrets
Apple sues OpenAI after ex-engineer allegedly used bug to steal trade secrets
苹果起诉 OpenAI：前工程师涉嫌利用漏洞窃取商业机密
Apple is gunning for OpenAI, demanding steep penalties after stumbling on a “rare” bug that temporarily allowed a poached employee that joined OpenAI to maintain access to confidential information on Apple servers for weeks after his termination. 苹果公司正对 OpenAI 发起猛烈攻势，要求其支付巨额赔偿。此前，苹果发现了一个“罕见”的漏洞，该漏洞曾导致一名跳槽至 OpenAI 的前员工在离职数周后，仍能持续访问苹果服务器上的机密信息。
In a lawsuit filed Friday, Apple sought several injunctions blocking OpenAI from using confidential information allegedly stolen by former employees. According to Apple’s complaint, OpenAI conspired with former Apple employees as part of a grand scheme to “take an unlawful shortcut” and launch a line of AI-powered devices as marketable as Apple’s iPhone. 在周五提交的诉讼中，苹果寻求多项禁令，以阻止 OpenAI 使用据称由前员工窃取的机密信息。根据苹果的起诉书，OpenAI 与苹果前员工串通，旨在通过“非法捷径”推出一系列与苹果 iPhone 同样具有市场竞争力的 AI 设备。
Apple explained that it found a bug while investigating internal messages between a then-current employee, Yu-Ting “Alyssa” Peng, and an engineer who spent eight years “working on some of Apple’s most sensitive product development programs,” Chang Liu. Liu left Apple for OpenAI in January 2026. 苹果解释称，在调查时任员工 Yu-Ting “Alyssa” Peng 与工程师 Chang Liu 之间的内部消息时发现了该漏洞。Chang Liu 曾在苹果工作八年，负责“苹果最敏感的一些产品开发项目”，并于 2026 年 1 月跳槽至 OpenAI。
However, on February 9, Liu discovered an “authentication bug” that was unknown to Apple at the time. The bug allowed him to “access Apple’s shared network folders,” while using an Apple-issued work laptop that he should have returned, the lawsuit said. Rather than report the bug to Apple, Liu allegedly seized the opportunity to download files detailing various aspects of Apple’s business. 然而，2 月 9 日，Liu 发现了一个当时苹果尚不知情的“身份验证漏洞”。诉讼称，该漏洞使他能够在使用本应归还的苹果工作笔记本电脑时，“访问苹果的共享网络文件夹”。Liu 不仅没有向苹果报告该漏洞，反而趁机下载了详细记录苹果业务各方面情况的文件。
Specifically, Apple alleged that “over several weeks, while developing hardware for OpenAI, Mr. Liu surreptitiously accessed and downloaded dozens of Apple’s confidential hardware-related files, including voluminous, detailed information about unreleased products, engineering presentations, technical specifications, and proprietary project data,” the lawsuit claimed. Particularly concerning to Apple, Liu allegedly downloaded a presentation on Apple’s complex circuit boards that Apple claimed would be “invaluable to anyone developing hardware.” Some files were “expressly labeled as confidential,” Apple claimed. 具体而言，苹果指控称：“在为 OpenAI 开发硬件的几周内，Liu 先生秘密访问并下载了数十份苹果的机密硬件相关文件，其中包括大量关于未发布产品的详细信息、工程演示文稿、技术规格和专有项目数据。”令苹果尤为担忧的是，Liu 据称下载了一份关于苹果复杂电路板的演示文稿，苹果称这对“任何开发硬件的人来说都价值连城”。苹果声称，其中一些文件被“明确标注为机密”。
“LOL,” Liu wrote in a message to Peng, which was among many mocking Apple that Liu apparently left on his Apple-issued work laptop. “I found out I can access the [network storage], so funny.” “哈哈，”Liu 在发给 Peng 的一条消息中写道。这只是 Liu 留在苹果配发的工作笔记本电脑上嘲讽苹果的众多消息之一。“我发现我能访问[网络存储]，太搞笑了。”
In a footnote, Apple confirmed that the bug was “quickly fixed” after they found Liu’s messages and that it did not appear to be widely exploited. “Although Apple is still investigating, server logs show that, unlike Mr. Liu, the few other users affected by this bug do not appear to have accessed or stolen Apple’s confidential information,” the lawsuit said. 在脚注中，苹果确认在发现 Liu 的消息后，该漏洞已“迅速修复”，且似乎并未被广泛利用。诉讼称：“尽管苹果仍在调查中，但服务器日志显示，与其他受此漏洞影响的少数用户不同，他们似乎并未访问或窃取苹果的机密信息。”
Yet fixing the bug won’t end the alleged theft of Apple trade secrets, the complaint said. The exchanges between Liu and Peng, as well as other evidence that Apple cited—including support for allegations that Apple’s former vice president of product design for iPhone, Tang Yew Tan, is spearheading the OpenAI scheme—are just the “tip of the iceberg,” Apple claimed. 然而，起诉书指出，修复漏洞并不能终结针对苹果商业机密的窃取行为。苹果声称，Liu 与 Peng 之间的交流，以及苹果引用的其他证据——包括支持苹果前 iPhone 产品设计副总裁 Tang Yew Tan 正在主导 OpenAI 计划的指控——都只是“冰山一角”。
In a statement provided to Ars, a spokesperson confirmed that OpenAI is still reviewing Apple’s complaint but disputes the core claim that OpenAI is relying on Apple insights to build a hardware business that could rival Apple’s device empire. “We have no interest in other companies’ trade secrets,” OpenAI’s spokesperson said. “We remain focused on building innovative technology that empowers people everywhere.” 在提供给 Ars 的声明中，OpenAI 发言人确认公司仍在审查苹果的起诉书，但否认了苹果的核心指控，即 OpenAI 依赖苹果的内部信息来建立足以与苹果设备帝国抗衡的硬件业务。“我们对其他公司的商业机密不感兴趣，”OpenAI 发言人表示，“我们始终专注于构建能够赋能全球民众的创新技术。”
This weekend on X, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman went further when responding to another user claiming that OpenAI was afraid of Apple’s lawsuit. In a post, Altman wrote, “I am not afraid of Apple, but I have tremendous respect for them.” 本周末，在回应另一位声称 OpenAI 害怕苹果诉讼的用户时，OpenAI 首席执行官 Sam Altman 在 X 上进一步表示：“我不怕苹果，但我对他们怀有极大的敬意。”
OpenAI requested Apple “show and tells” OpenAI 要求苹果进行“展示与讲述”
Apple is urging the court to intervene and stop OpenAI from benefiting from the allegedly rampant theft after poaching more than 400 former Apple employees. Beyond Liu and Peng’s alleged conspiring, the discovery process will reveal an even broader “pattern of theft of Apple’s trade secrets by OpenAI employees who were formerly at Apple,” the smartphone manufacturer alleged. 苹果正敦促法院进行干预，阻止 OpenAI 在挖走 400 多名前苹果员工后，从所谓的猖獗窃密行为中获利。这家智能手机制造商声称，除了 Liu 和 Peng 的串通行为外，证据开示过程将揭示一个更广泛的“OpenAI 前苹果员工窃取苹果商业机密的模式”。
Supposedly directing the recruiting scheme is Tang Tan, who spent 24 years at Apple before joining former Apple design chief Jony Ive’s io Products and then becoming OpenAI’s chief hardware officer in 2025. According to Apple, Tan has relied on his insider knowledge, like knowing secret project code names, to get Apple employees to discuss unreleased products during job interviews. He also allegedly used an internal Apple document to create a checklist to help departing Apple employees evade security measures when stealing trade secrets. 据称，主导这一招聘计划的是 Tang Tan。他在苹果工作了 24 年，随后加入了苹果前设计主管 Jony Ive 的 io Products，并于 2025 年成为 OpenAI 的首席硬件官。据苹果称，Tan 利用其内部知识（如知晓秘密项目代号），诱导苹果员工在面试中讨论未发布的产品。他还被指控利用一份苹果内部文件创建了一份清单，帮助离职员工在窃取商业机密时规避安全措施。
Perhaps most egregiously, Tan is accused of asking Apple employees to bring in computer parts for “show and tell” sessions that Apple claimed “would disclose Apple’s proprietary technologies” way beyond what reverse-engineering the parts might allow OpenAI to learn about Apple’s tech. 最令人震惊的是，Tan 被指控要求苹果员工携带电脑零部件参加“展示与讲述”会议。苹果称，这些会议“会泄露苹果的专有技术”，其程度远超通过逆向工程这些零部件所能了解到的范围。
Those claims seemingly also rest on messages left on Liu’s laptop discussing Tan’s alleged instructions to Apple employees to share information, which Liu allegedly referred to while coaching Peng on how to “avoid trouble” when she left Apple for OpenAI, the lawsuit said. Liu also allegedly sent Peng messages on how to get hired by OpenAI and avoid repeating mistakes of other former Apple staffers who “fumbled” their interviews by failing to give desired insights into Apple’s “top-secret projects” and unreleased products, the complaint said. 诉讼称，这些指控似乎也基于 Liu 笔记本电脑上留下的消息，其中讨论了 Tan 指示苹果员工分享信息的行为。Liu 在指导 Peng 如何在从苹果跳槽至 OpenAI 时“避免麻烦”时，曾提到过这些指示。起诉书还称，Liu 曾向 Peng 发送消息，指导她如何被 OpenAI 录用，并避免重蹈其他前苹果员工的覆辙——那些员工因未能提供关于苹果“绝密项目”和未发布产品的关键见解，而在面试中“搞砸了”。
The Wall Street Journal noted that it’s common for engineers to bring computer parts to job interviews, and it’s possible that only non-proprietary information was discussed. So it remains unclear what evidence Apple may use to justify such explosive claims against a former senior executive or any of its former staffers. 《华尔街日报》指出，工程师在面试时携带电脑零部件是很常见的做法，而且讨论的可能仅限于非专有信息。因此，苹果将使用何种证据来证明针对一名前高管或其任何前员工的这些爆炸性指控，目前尚不清楚。
Apple calls OpenAI plan “rotten” 苹果称 OpenAI 的计划“腐败”
Of course, it’s not the first time Apple has accused a rival device maker of poaching staff to steal its technology, and Apple hasn’t always finished those legal battles in court. Apple settled a long, expensive fight with Samsung. 当然，这并非苹果首次指控竞争对手通过挖角来窃取其技术，而且苹果也并非总是在法庭上完成这些法律诉讼。苹果曾与三星达成过一场漫长且昂贵的和解。