OpenAI 将与 Apple 的诉讼拉入舆论法庭

随着 ChatGPT 开发商 OpenAI 公开证据反驳 Apple 对事件的说法，Apple 与 OpenAI 的法律纠纷变得更加复杂。OpenAI 在一夜之间发布了一篇题为《Apple 搞错了》的博客文章，称 Apple 指控其窃取商业机密的诉讼“草率、咄咄逼人，而且带有奇怪的人身针对性”。OpenAI 分享了 iMessage 和电子邮件往来，以质疑该案件中的核心指控。

这并非 OpenAI 提交的法律答辩，而是一次试图影响舆论法庭的行动：它借助经过选择的通信记录，试图指出 Apple 案件中的矛盾之处。

Apple 上个月提起的诉讼主要围绕前 Apple 员工 Chang Liu 和 Tang Tan展开，两人现已加入 OpenAI。Liu 曾是 iPhone 工程师，目前在 OpenAI 技术团队工作；Tan 则在 Apple 任职 25 年，曾负责监督 iPhone 和 Apple Watch 的设计，之后出任 OpenAI 首席硬件官。Apple 指称，他们将“有关我们尚未发布的技术、流程和产品的秘密和机密信息”带往 OpenAI，以推进 OpenAI 的硬件计划。Reuters报道称，Apple 于周一请求发布初步禁令，要求在诉讼推进期间禁止 Liu、Tan 及 OpenAI 访问、获取、使用或披露涉嫌属于机密的信息。

OpenAI 在博客文章中表示：“Apple 申请初步禁令既基于虚假信息，也完全没有必要，因为我们没有、也不想要他们的任何商业机密。我们更感兴趣的是打造突破前沿的创新产品和技术。”

Apple 的诉讼称，Liu 未归还一台公司所有的电脑，并在离职数周后利用身份验证漏洞访问 Apple 的云端网络存储。Liu 还被指控从 Apple 的存储系统下载机密文件，并在另一名 Apple 同事加入 OpenAI 前，指导她如何下载这些文件以及如何避免与公司安全团队发生“麻烦”。

OpenAI 的反击则以不同视角描述了此事：

“Apple 指控 Chang Liu 在离职后访问 Apple 机密信息，但直到现在才承认，是 Apple 员工联系了他并请求他协助定位这些信息。Apple 现在试图将责任转移到‘残留访问权限’上，但他们同样没有披露，这在 Apple 是一个常见问题，其原因是他们未能在人们离职时妥善管理系统访问权限。这在实践中的含义是：即使前员工在离职时试图做正确的事，他们仍然可以访问 Apple 文件——尽管他们既不想要这些文件，甚至也不知道自己还能访问。”

Apple 在诉讼中还称，Tan 在为 OpenAI 职位面试 Apple 员工时索取 Apple 的机密信息，并指示面试者展示他们曾参与开发的一些 Apple 组件。作为回应，OpenAI 表示，Tan“一直明确向团队表示，我们不想要、也绝不能使用来自其他公司的任何机密信息”。

OpenAI 在博客文章中还反驳了其未回应 Apple 最初问询的指控，称 Apple“如今承认，其外部律师在混淆两个亚洲姓氏后给错误的人发送了电子邮件”，并且承认其并未与 OpenAI 总法律顾问进行过沟通。这家 ChatGPT 开发商发布了两家公司法律顾问之间互动的电子邮件，以及 Liu 与一名 Apple 员工交换的 iMessage。完整内容可在 OpenAI 的博客中阅读。

Apple’s legal battle against OpenAI just got messier now that the ChatGPT-maker has publicly aired receipts to counter Apple’s version of events. In a blog post published overnight titled “Apple is getting this wrong,” OpenAI said that Apple’s lawsuit accusing it of stealing trade secrets is “careless, aggressive, and oddly personal,” sharing iMessage and email exchanges to challenge allegations central to the case.

This isn’t a legal response from OpenAI, but it’s an attempt to sway the court of public opinion by poking contradictions into Apple’s case using cherry-picked communications.

The lawsuit filed by Apple last month primarily revolves around former Apple employees Chang Liu and Tang Tan, who have since joined OpenAI. Liu was a former iPhone engineer who now works on OpenAI’s technical team, and Tan was employed by Apple for 25 years, formerly overseeing the iPhone and Apple Watch design before taking on the role of OpenAI’s chief hardware officer. Apple alleges they took “secret and confidential information regarding our unreleased technologies, processes, and products” with them to advance OpenAI’s hardware plans. Reuters reports that Apple asked for a preliminary injunction on Monday to prevent Liu, Tan, ​and OpenAI from accessing, acquiring, using, or disclosing alleged confidential information while the lawsuit moves ahead.

“Apple’s request for a preliminary injunction is both based on false information and completely unnecessary because we do not have, nor want, any of their trade secrets,” OpenAI said in its blog post. “We’re much more interested in building innovative products and technologies that push the frontier.”

Apple’s lawsuit alleges that Liu failed to return a company-owned computer and used an authentication vulnerability to access Apple’s cloud-based network storage weeks after he left the company. Liu is also accused of downloading confidential files from Apple’s storage system, and instructing another Apple colleague on how to do so and “avoid trouble” with the company’s security team ahead of her joining OpenAI.

OpenAI’s clapback paints this in a different light:

“Apple accuses Chang Liu of accessing Apple confidential information after leaving the company, but only now admits that Apple employees reached out to him and asked for his help to locate this information. Apple now tries to shift the blame to “residual access”, but they also don’t disclose that this is a common issue with Apple which is caused by them failing to properly manage system access when people leave. What that means in practice is that former employees who are trying to do the right thing when they leave still have access to Apple files—despite not wanting them or even being aware of them.“

In its lawsuit, Apple also alleges that Tan asked for confidential Apple information when interviewing Apple employees for OpenAI jobs, and instructed interviewees to showcase some of the Apple components they worked on. In response, OpenAI says that Tan “has always been clear with the team that we do not want, and must not use, any confidential information from other companies.”

In its blog post, OpenAI also refuted allegations that it didn’t respond to Apple’s initial inquiries, saying that Apple “now admit that their outside lawyers emailed the wrong person after confusing two Asian last names,” and has conceded that it didn’t have a discussion with OpenAI’s General Counsel. The ChatGPT-maker published emails of interactions between the two companies’ legal counsel, alongside iMessages Liu exchanged with an Apple employee. You can read them in full on OpenAI’s blog.