Apple has asked a court for "expedited discovery" in its trade secrets lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging the company is destroying evidence linked to a former Apple employee now working there. The dispute centres on Chang Liu, one of three ex-Apple staff at the heart of the case, who allegedly kept a company-owned MacBook after leaving Apple and used confidential material in his OpenAI work. The escalation matters because Apple says forensic evidence such as logs and metadata is at risk of being permanently lost the longer OpenAI delays handing over devices.

Apple claims OpenAI only recently surrendered Liu's MacBook, on 21st August, despite having had it since the lawsuit began in July, and that an inspection then revealed he had downloaded and used a confidential Apple circuit schematic, alongside continued access to Apple's cloud storage. Apple also cites messages in which Liu discussed "restoring" Apple-owned devices after learning of the company's internal investigation in June. OpenAI has hit back, calling the situation "a mess of Apple's own making," blaming Apple's employee exit process, and insisting there is no evidence Liu accessed or had any use for Apple's confidential information.