An OpenAI staff member who moved to Apple reportedly forwarded more than 100 documents tied to an unreleased item to a private account and later showed the item to top Apple executives, according to a fresh court paper in the ongoing legal fight between the two firms.

The filing in federal court in San Jose, California, claims the demonstration occurred several months earlier and notes that Apple is now rolling out its own AI tools, pointing to the recent launch of the HomeView feature.

OpenAI voiced strong worries that its proprietary details and private data are now inside Apple, where engineers could use them to guide the development of future Apple offerings based on the confidential work.

Apple stated it maintains clear rules and steps to stop new hires from bringing over private material from earlier jobs and reported finding no proof to back the claims.

The Tuesday filing forms part of a trade secret case Apple brought earlier this year, alleging that former iPhone maker employees carried confidential material to OpenAI hardware teams. OpenAI has rejected those claims.

The back-and-forth claims highlight the growing contest between the two firms for skilled staff and protected ideas as OpenAI moves into consumer hardware, a space Apple has long led.

In an October 12 letter to OpenAI that surfaced in a Wednesday court filing, Apple lawyers noted the two personal phone numbers tied to the files do not match the number the employee uses for Apple work, suggesting the company never held the data sent while the person was still at OpenAI.

Apple lawyers added that checks of work-related storage turned up no sign of OpenAI files on company servers and that the firm had heard nothing about any presentation on unreleased OpenAI items, asking for further details in the letter.

Apple said OpenAI did not reply and instead filed in court, but the company will keep working with OpenAI on the claims.

Earlier this week, US District Court Judge Edward Davila approved part of Apple request for early access to digital records from OpenAI in the case.

Davila allowed Apple to collect data from some former employee devices and to question three people on a faster timeline, including the two named in the suit, Chang Liu, a former senior systems electrical engineer, and Tang Yew Tan, a former vice president of product design for iPhone and Apple Watch.

The matter is expected to reach trial in October 2027, though OpenAI has indicated in filings it could be prepared as early as June 2027.