Apple Files Evidence Against Ex-engineer in OpenAI Suit
The legal battle between Apple and OpenAI has escalated to a new level after the iPhone maker presented forensic data showing that OpenAI hardware had already begun running on trade secrets that its former employees were never authorized to share. The “shocking evidence” pulled from a former engineer’s work laptop comes ahead of an October 1 court showdown and throws a wrench in Sam Altman and OpenAI’s push to enter the physical devices business. Apple lawyers have told the court that they found dozens of confidential files, including a circuit schematic for a power converter on the work-issued MacBook that belongs to Chang Liu, a senior system electrical engineer who moved on to OpenAI in January. Apple said that Liu did not just access those files, but he actually used them in simulations at his OpenAI role, according to the supplemental brief its lawyers filed in the Northern District of California. Beyond the schematics, Apple lawyers also said they found evidence that Liu used a tool with a name identical to one of his former employer’s internal engineering programs. Apple argues its case amid claims against its ex-engineer The lawyers warned that any AI agent that “learn[s]” can use that material to potentially create harm that is hard to reverse and keeps spreading. Liu’s lawyers voluntarily submitted the old laptop for inspection earlier in August. Apple lawyers, on the other hand, have called the court’s attention to an alleged June attempt to wipe evidence as rationale to fast-track evidence gathering. They claim that once Liu caught wind of the internal Apple investigation, he reached out to fellow OpenAI alum, Yu-Ting Peng, to discuss a plan to “restore” the devices their former employer gave them. By Apple’s interpretation of the exchange, restoring in this context meant wiping the machines of any evidence that could implicate them if the laptops were forensically analyzed. Apple claims that more than 400 people have left the firm for OpenAI as of last count. OpenAI has not shifted its position. Since an August 3 blog post titled “Apple is getting this wrong,” the company has pinned the access on Apple’s own sloppiness, describing what Liu had as “residual access” left over because Apple often fails to shut off accounts when staff departs. In that post, OpenAI said former Apple colleagues were the ones who messaged Liu asking for help finding files, not the reverse. Apple tells a different story about how the access survived. It claims Liu kept his way in by exploiting “a rare, previously unknown authentication bug,” per TechCrunch, rather than through any oversight on Apple’s end. Apple has big stakes riding on how Judge Edward Davila interprets rules on two requests it made of the court, with both decisions due on October 1. One is a preliminary injunction to make OpenAI pause any work on hardware using the iPhone maker’s technology while the case is still unsettled. The second request is to expedite discovery so that Apple lawyers can depose witnesses and pull documents on a faster timeline. The timing of the documents Apple wants to see adds a third name to the proceedings, Tang Tan. The request for material dated August 1, 2023, or later lines up with the six months before Tan, a design executive who spent more than 24 years at Apple, left for OpenAI. Another name in the blast radius of this lawsuit is Jony Ive’s io Products. The post Apple files evidence against ex-engineer in OpenAI suit first appeared on Coinfea.
Meta 正在考慮在其數據中心部署機器人,用於插接電纜、重啓服務器並檢查設備。現任與前任員工表示,這些機器可能會減少爲其人工智能建設提供支持的技術人員人數。 據《連線》(Wired)的一份報告稱,部分不願透露姓名的工人表示,硬件來自多家供應商的組合。其中包括位於舊金山的 Watney Robotics、位於魁北克的 Kinova,以及位於蘇黎世的 ABB。在一項實驗中,一臺 Kinova Gen3 機械臂被用來切斷服務器的電源,而另一臺機器正在測試用於更換網絡電纜。在一些地點,該公司已經部署了一種類似手指或尖細手持物的裝置,用來按下 Mac Mini 或類似設備上的電源按鈕,從而在遠程人工指令下對其重啓。