Apple’s OpenAI lawsuit just tripped over an embarrassing wrong-recipient email

Apple and OpenAI’s legal battle has quickly moved beyond carefully worded court statements. OpenAI has just shared the email and message trails behind the dispute, and one exchange leaves Apple’s version of events looking questionable.

In a bluntly titled post, “Apple is getting this wrong,” OpenAI challenged Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction and accused the iPhone maker of building parts of its case around false or incomplete information. Apple wants a court to prevent OpenAI and two former Apple employees from accessing, acquiring, using, or disclosing its alleged confidential information.

Apple’s paper trail contains a hilarious mix-up

Apple previously claimed it contacted OpenAI in February about former employees retaining confidential information and received no response. The emails released by OpenAI show Apple’s outside lawyer, Gabriel Gross, contacting OpenAI General Counsel Che Chang. Gross later sent Chang a follow-up thanking him for a phone call and an offer to cooperate. Chang replied that the conversation had never happened.

Gross subsequently acknowledged that the message was intended for another former Apple employee, whose surname was Wang, and had accidentally been sent through the email chain with Chang. OpenAI characterizes the episode as Apple confusing two Asian surnames.

OpenAI also argues that Apple never raised the specific accusations that eventually appeared in its lawsuit. According to the correspondence, Apple’s counsel said it was resolving the issue before communication stopped for approximately five months. To recall, the tech giant filed its lawsuit on July 10.

OpenAI brought more than emails

Apple’s case names former employees Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan, accusing them and OpenAI of misappropriating confidential hardware information to accelerate OpenAI’s consumer-device plans. Apple recently requested expedited document production and depositions from OpenAI employees and corporate representatives.

OpenAI also published iMessages showing Apple employees continuing to ask Liu for help locating files and answering technical questions after his departure. It adds that the messages undermine Apple’s accusation that Liu deliberately retained access, arguing that Apple failed to disconnect former employees from its systems properly.

Those exchanges represent OpenAI’s defense in an active lawsuit rather than a court’s conclusion. They do, however, create an uncomfortable contradiction for Apple. However, they do create an uncomfortable contradiction for Apple since employees have allegedly continued requesting Liu’s assistance while the company now argues that his continued access created an urgent threat. This fight could even carry considerable for its hardware ambitions.