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  • Hacker News
  • A few of my colleagues were fired for including source code derived from Apple specifications in their Copilot session (yes we use Copilot).
    by vachina
  • > … fired for including source code derived from Apple specifications

    There has to be more to this story. Do you have anything substantial that you could share?

    by jagged-chisel
  • Apple is historically successfully secretive.

    I suspect their security “lapses” are more along the lines of “give them enough rope to thoroughly hang themselves”

    by pclowes
  • Apple leaks like a sieve. The extreme secrecy culture is a pointless drag on productivity, maintained long past its usefulness for the sole benefit of the execs practicing their Steve Jobs "one more thing" keynote cargo cult.
    by modeless
  • Why do think they would want to be vindictive? The point is to prevent leaks, leaving lapses is exactly counter to that goal.
    by slashdave
  • That secretive culture died over a decade ago. Everything gets leaked now.
    by paxys
  • Apple is large. People free stronger allegiance to their cultural and ethnic groups than their companies. They just don’t want to get in trouble.
    by groundzeros2015
  • A lot of the legal action is a warning to current employees who may have been considering doing the same.
    by tonyedgecombe
  • AI seems to always be stealing from someone
    by josefritzishere
  • Please don't assume the entire AI industry behaves like OpenAI
    by slashdave
  • I wonder if OpenAI could use a novel defence of “we’re just using it to train AI for better hardware intelligence. Fair use.”

    It seems to have played out decently in courts so far.

    by dannyw
  • If Apple had published all of the details/data publicly, then they publicly could.

    But that is not the claim, and no one is even pretending that that's what happened.

    by nrmitchi
  • OpenAIs response:

    https://openai.com/index/apple-is-getting-this-wrong/

    Personally, this reads a bit ridiculous in the face of what Apple is claiming but time will tell.

    by ofjcihen
  • I mean... who has control over OpenAI's web page? No self-respecting PR firm would do something like this. And Counsel must be hopping mad.
    by slashdave
  • Wow. This makes Apple seem like amateur hour. The case should be dismissed with prejudice.
    by brcmthrowaway
  • yeah that is pretty crazy, who is even the intended audience? This seems like something they'd be discussing with their legal team instead of blogging about it. To me, these kinds of public outbursts are just making their hole deeper.

    IP disputes between some of the richest corporations on the planet don't get a lot of sympathy in the court of public opinion anyway. Even if they did, what difference does it make? There isn't a sheriff or DA with a public face that has to make a decision here.

    by chasd00
  • This should be shown in court, first, to avoid predictable blowback around making a weak-appeal.

    I feel like OpenAI is attempting to obscure the public sentiment trend. And that are willing to taint a jury pool by releasing evidence.

    I assume then, that OpenAI is "feeling" or has determined it is perceived negatively by the public, in general. They may be seeking to influence their talent pipeline, to reduce inbound constraint they predict are coming from a lack of perceived trustworthiness of OpenAI.

    Seems inappropriate for OpenAI to post this public-appeal, to me.

    by ncr100
  • I have never gone from one job to another where the new job was in the same exact industry I was in prior, but I'm glad I never have to be thrown into such a scenario where I'm accused of taking confidential data, I can only imagine for some employers that makes you a red flag, very dangerous territory to be in.
    by giancarlostoro
  • People in silicon valley do this every day. California has a lot of laws to protect employees. Companies need tangible proof of a violation, not just "this guy had vague company IP in his head".
    by paxys
  • It's not hard if you are honest
    by slashdave
  • These guys are pushing boundaries knowingly.

    A good company also doesn’t want you to take IP bc it creates the liability.

    by jbs789
  • > I [...] imagine for some employers that makes you a red flag

    Maybe. It also advertises a moral flexibility that is high in-demand here in America. Clearly OpenAI has no scruples entertaining a turncoat of this scale, I can believe that businesses will be lined up out the door to hire these people.

    by bigyabai
  • I really think this is apple feeling really threatened rather than confidential data really being stolen.

    Apple is known for threatening companies that hire from them, and occasionally having secret agreements with other companies not to hire from each other.

    People move from a company to a direct competitor all the time (i have a number of friends that went from working at aws to working on gcloud for example) and guess what, no one of those companies really went bankrupt due to this.

    So really long story short: i think apple is being a sore loser at the employee retention game.

    by znpy
  • I agree it feels scary from the employee's perspective, but at least in this case, it doesn't seem like it would've been difficult to avoid: simply return your work devices when handing in your badge:

    > [...] multiple former Apple employees now working at OpenAI reached out to discuss returning Apple-issued work devices they kept when they left Apple.

    By not doing that you effectively just cry "sue me", this is stupidity on the employee's part (or malice). Oh and maybe don't take "screenshots of confidential documents".

    by twothreeone
  • I have moved between clients (as a contractor) within the same industry every couple of years for nearly two decades, often cycling back around to the same clients more than once.

    There have also been cases where a previous client kept my contract open after I had left and started with the next client. This gets disclosed to the new client, and my previous client gets informed of where I’m moving to so they have the option of immediately closing the contract if they feel there is a conflict that cannot be managed.

    None of this is hard. It simply requires transparency and not doing dumb or nefarious things.

    by gavinmckenzie
  • The only time I did that, the company I was leaving begged me to take one of their corp laptops with me so I could offer "consulting" to them on the side. I never called them on their plausible deniability, I just said I felt that would be a conflict of interest and they shut up real fast.
    by CBLT
  • Really don't like all the drama around this. Should be dealt with in court, not tried in the press.

    Both sides should learn to remain silent and work the case through legal channels.

    by datakan
  • Seems to be Altman's playbook, just like how he got the CEO job back.
    by 6gvONxR4sf7o
  • It's OpenAI still trying to maintain control of the narrative while they burn to the ground. For years they haven't really delivered while bullying anyone who doesn't have an "AI strategy".

    The media is happy to stoke the flames.

    by sublinear
  • I mean, they are dealing with it in the courts, right? This is the press picking up on public court filings https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73602437/49/apple-inc-v...
    by madeofpalk