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Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

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Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#201

Post by rjrjrjrj »

amelius wrote: post #194
Zigurd wrote: post #100

Everybody wants a platform but nobody wants to spend what it takes to make a platform. That includes things like Windows Phone, Fire Phone, all the glasses, Humane, etc. As much as everybody hates on OpenAI for chaotic management, they did buy Jony Ive and are presumably giving him everything he wants to build a platform for them. Even though it probably only buys them a 20% chance of success, they haven't doomed the…

> Everybody wants a platform but nobody wants to spend what it takes to make a platform. That's why Apple used open-source software to build a kernel. And why they used third party developers to develop the ecosystem of applications.

> And why they used third party developers to develop the ecosystem of applications.

Isn't that the very definition of a platform?

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#202

Post by shimman »

aprilthird2021 wrote: post #127
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> it hasn't been determined yet that they have Legally, no. Reasonably, for purposes of discussion, I think it has. The “LOL” dumbfuck who airlifted files into OpenAI isn’t particularly ambiguous [1]. [1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-07-11/openai-en...

It is ambiguous still at this stage though. There's no proof he used this info at his job or that he was directed to take it by anyone (he may have thought it helpful to his career in a way OpenAI never asked for or even invited).

The court of public opinion is a thing, and the onus isn't on us to not trust a rich tech bro to not be an unethical person. That's on them to fix their image + avoiding jail time.

The rest of us are allowed to rightfully laugh at them.

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#203

Post by shimman »

joshstrange wrote: post #199
ajju wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems like an important post. It looks like these letters are occasionally used to as a tactic, and i can see how such a tactic can really scare employees in a country where legal bills can climb really fast.

> in a country where legal bills can climb really fast Honest question: Are there countries where this is not the case? I'd be interested to read more about how that manage that. If it's some sort of "protecting the little guy"-type thing or a general suppression of legal costs. Or maybe I'm reading too much into your comment.

Yes, the US is actually unique in this position. It even has it's own name the "American Rule."

In every other country, the loser pays the winner's legal fees.

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#204

Post by rjrjrjrj »

seviu wrote: post #44
reenorap wrote: post #10

Apple must have hard evidence on this. I can’t believe they would take it this far without already knowing they are going to win. If they have to fire a huge chunk of their hardware employees it’s going to throw their IPO plans into chaos.

This is John Ternus having a beef with Tang Tan. It’s widely known they both competed for the role of CEO. Tim Cook would never have started this. It shows a level of pettiness and arrogance which I never expected to see from Apple. I can’t put myself in the mind of John, but he clearly hated Tang. From outside and with a parent’s perspective this looks like my kids throwing a tantrum. John must be thinking he is the…

Widely known where?

Tang was never mentioned as a candidate in anything I read over the past few years. He wasn't an SVP.

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#205

Post by sweetjuly »

mathisfun123 wrote: post #186
nxobject wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> AI model providers have zero "moat", clients change them as they see fit. That might be true in tech-savvy industries -- but in non-tech industries where the biggest software purchase might be the office suite or the ERP, inertia means the GSuite shops stick with Gemini, and the Exchange/Office 365 shops stick with Copilot.

I think you don't understand moat - that's not a moat.

The trick is antitrust style bundling. The massive pile of documents and processes tied to GSuite is a moat which makes it hard to switch to something like o365. Since a company might effectively be locked into GSuite (the primary product), if Google forces companies to buy Gemini (the secondary product) by bundling it with GSuite, they've given themselves a moat in the LLM space using their document/email moat from GSuite.

This is essentially what Google has done, and it's a shame the US is so weak on enforcing antitrust laws.

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#206

Post by watwut »

joshstrange wrote: post #197
Zigurd wrote: post #100

Everybody wants a platform but nobody wants to spend what it takes to make a platform. That includes things like Windows Phone, Fire Phone, all the glasses, Humane, etc. As much as everybody hates on OpenAI for chaotic management, they did buy Jony Ive and are presumably giving him everything he wants to build a platform for them. Even though it probably only buys them a 20% chance of success, they haven't doomed the…

Small nit. > they did buy Jony Ive and are presumably giving him everything he wants to build a platform for them If they hired Jony Ive to build a "platform" they will be very disappointed. He has no experience in doing that. They hired him to design a device, probably comment on the UI (if there is any, though I don't think he is qualified to direct either UI personally). Aside from that, yeah, they royally screwed…

> Either by hiring unsavory people who think this acceptable behavior and/or by not managing/supervising them.

Is there any reason to think this is roque employees doing something? We know Altman is ethically challenged. It is equally or even more likely that management welcommed employees to doing this.

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#207

Post by whyenot »

ironman1478 wrote: post #157
grouchomarx wrote: post #153

Earlier quoted context omitted.

being an exec at apple for decades you probably pick up on a few things, even if they're beyond your department

The Luce seems to disprove that, at least in his case.

The car that has sold out in almost every market outside the US?

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#208

Post by proee »

Zigurd wrote: post #100

Everybody wants a platform but nobody wants to spend what it takes to make a platform. That includes things like Windows Phone, Fire Phone, all the glasses, Humane, etc. As much as everybody hates on OpenAI for chaotic management, they did buy Jony Ive and are presumably giving him everything he wants to build a platform for them. Even though it probably only buys them a 20% chance of success, they haven't doomed the…

At this point in his career, Jony Ive is best suited for doing deep dive studies on the corner-radius of new products. And even then, you might as well just default it to that of an ipad, because that seems to be his preference for all things, including $650k Ferraris.

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#209

Post by shimman »

staticman2 wrote: post #165
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> these are letters to individuals about the existing lawsuit with OpenAI, not new lawsuits against individuals My guess is these employees weren’t chosen randomly. If they refuse to coöperate with Apple, they’ll get personally sued as well. And the reality of the matter is, given Altman’s public persona and reputation, there is a good chance an AG somewhere starts looking at whether these folks broke any laws.

> If they refuse to coöperate with Apple, they’ll get personally sued as well. This isn't law and order and that's not how civil litigation works.

They can easily be found to have violated the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, like this is a slam dunk. Highly possible too seeing the massive public hatred against companies like OpenAI. DAs like easy political wins too and what better win than sticking it to OpenAI and its lackeys?

Might have to make some phone calls to my local representatives now...

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#210

Post by MattDamonSpace »

Zigurd wrote: post #100

Everybody wants a platform but nobody wants to spend what it takes to make a platform. That includes things like Windows Phone, Fire Phone, all the glasses, Humane, etc. As much as everybody hates on OpenAI for chaotic management, they did buy Jony Ive and are presumably giving him everything he wants to build a platform for them. Even though it probably only buys them a 20% chance of success, they haven't doomed the…

I maintain that if Humane wasn’t arrogant as hell and had just put a screen on their device, theyd have been PERFECTLY placed to become the open-platform AI Phone

Hell they might’ve been bought by OpenAI for billions instead of… HP lol

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