苹果对OpenAI及前员工提起诉讼，指控其窃取硬件机密，但最新调查揭示了意想不到的真相——泄露源头实际上源于苹果自身iCloud系统的缺陷[1]。工程师Chang Liu在苹果工作8年后于今年1月跳槽至OpenAI，苹果指控其利用认证漏洞访问公司云端存储[1]。据披露，这名前员工的工作文件在离职后仍保留在个人iCloud账户中并持续同步，导致包括产品发布会策划文档在内的机密资料长期留存[1]。
苹果在诉讼中要求OpenAI赔偿损失、销毁涉密材料并重新设计未发布硬件产品[1]。苹果方面已回应称，诉讼与iCloud共享文件无关，同时表示不会对意外留有内部文件的前员工提起诉讼[1]。苹果称超过400名前员工被OpenAI挖走[1]。此前类似案例显示，Rivos公司在2021年从苹果挖走40多名员工后，于2024年与苹果和解，随后被Meta以约20亿美元收购[1]。
Apple's legal action against OpenAI alleges that engineer Chang Liu, who worked at Apple for eight years before joining OpenAI in January of this year, unlawfully accessed the company's cloud storage using authentication vulnerabilities [1]. The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, seeks damages, destruction of confidential materials, and the redesign of unreleased hardware products [1].
However, recent investigations have revealed that the source of the leak may lie not with deliberate corporate espionage, but rather with a system defect in Apple's own iCloud platform [1]. According to disclosures from former Apple employees, confidential documents remained stored in personal iCloud accounts and continued to synchronize even after the employees departed the company, including materials related to product launch planning [1]. Apple has responded by stating that the lawsuit is unrelated to iCloud shared files and that it will not pursue legal action against former employees who inadvertently retained internal documents [1].
The case occurs within a broader pattern of talent migration from Apple to OpenAI, with Apple claiming that over 400 former employees have been recruited by the AI company [1]. A precedent exists in a similar situation involving Rivos, which hired more than 40 Apple employees in 2021; that company subsequently settled with Apple in 2024 and was acquired by Meta for approximately $2 billion [1].
