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Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

ft.com

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Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#301

Post by bellowsgulch »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #136
bellowsgulch wrote: post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but how do we know specific manufacturing processes weren’t in employee contracts like, “If you leave Apple you can’t utilize the invisible weld process invented here for the iMac.” I mean regardless of whether it’s a trade secret, you’re going to know how to do specific things that can’t be protected against copying. There are no practical laws against understanding the laws of physics, chemistry, and metallurg…

> There are no practical laws against understanding the laws of physics, chemistry, and metallurgy Except there are. It’s why clean-room design [1] is a thing. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clean-room_design

Clean-room design isn’t a thing in manufacturing.

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#302

Post by quickthrowman »

whyenot wrote: post #207
ironman1478 wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

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

That’s extremely easy for Ferrari to do, here is how it works:

“Hey, it’s your friendly Ferrari dealer. About your position on the list for an F80… we’re going to need you to buy a Luce to maintain your position and ensure you are eligible to purchase an F80 when we get an allocation.”

And that’s how you sell out a production run for a Ferrari that looks like a Kia. Force rich people to buy it to get the car they actually want, just like a Rolex AD does with Lady Datejusts if you want a Daytona allocation.

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#303

Post by freejazz »

bellowsgulch wrote: post #119
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…

Yes, but how do we know specific manufacturing processes weren’t in employee contracts like, “If you leave Apple you can’t utilize the invisible weld process invented here for the iMac.” I mean regardless of whether it’s a trade secret, you’re going to know how to do specific things that can’t be protected against copying. There are no practical laws against understanding the laws of physics, chemistry, and metallurg…

> There are no practical laws against understanding the laws of physics, chemistry, and metallurgy when it comes to anodizing

And unsurprisingly, that's not what the lawsuit is over!

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#304

Post by freejazz »

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).

But he stole it, no? What's ambiguous about that?

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#305

Post by LarsDu88 »

PunchyHamster wrote: post #264
Zigurd wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When Intel was on top of the world I was fortunate enough to work at one of the partner companies on a project that was a pet project of Andy Grove. I would nominate him and his whole C suite as a beacon of ethics and fair dealing.

When Intel was on top of the world they tried every trick to destroy the competition so that definitely didn't stemmed from the top...

Andry Grove was great, but Intel really was the epitome of "competition is for losers"

In the early days all their products were explicitly designed to only work with each other to create a hardware walled garden.

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#306

Post by homarp »

nomorewords wrote: post #103
homarp wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it worked for China, no? (and to develop 5G modem too)

In china's case it wasn't internal but external

https://www.bunniestudios.com/blog/2009/tech-trend-shanzai/ was internal though

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#307

Post by LarsDu88 »

duxup wrote: post #217
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…

As far as I can tell Ive's expertise isn't "build a platform". All they seem to have gotten out of it is some creepy blogpost: https://openai.com/sam-and-jony/

I don't get this "build a platform" nonsense. He's a designer. A good one. Who ripped off much of his aethetics from vintage Braun products.

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#308

Post by wbl »

groby_b wrote: post #239
tedggh wrote: post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

“ Or maybe it was a loose ethical environment in general” Altman doesn’t appear to be a beacon of corporate ethics. There has to be a reason why almost every single important partnership OpenAI had, abruptly ended, except for maybe Nvidia. Just recently Satya Nadella publicly implied that OpenAI should not be trusted. They are slowly becoming the STD of the AI industry, it’s like they think they are too big and aweso…

"Altman doesn’t appear to be a beacon of corporate ethics." Do those exist? I'm usually happy to see a mild candle flicker in the ethics window.

Every Wall Street bank is run by guys who get that there are rules to this game and you don't squeeze the unsophisticated the same way. The same can't be said for Silicon Valleys contribution to the brokerage world.

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#309

Post by freejazz »

wildzzz wrote: post #137
elicash wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not a lawyer, but I would also guess they need to "flip" these folks against OpenAI and get them to cooperate in the lawsuit against the actual folks with big pockets. I think they're essentially alleging a conspiracy by OpenAI and they need as many examples as possible to make the case that this was a pattern and standard practice, not just one or two idiots acting on their own. So if I'm a former Apple employee…

You shouldn't ever willingly give up information to a plaintiff if it could implicate you. If the information exists, it's going to come out in discovery. Admitting to theft of trade secrets is probably not going to help you, it's not like the cops offering you immunity for turning state's witness. You talk to a lawyer and do what they say, not what Apple demands of you. No one but a judge can demand anything of you.

Anyone is free to demand anything. You can even say no to a judge. You wont like that result, though.

Re: Apple targets dozens of OpenAI employees with legal letters

#310

Post by milkshakes »

wbl wrote: post #308
groby_b wrote: post #239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Altman doesn’t appear to be a beacon of corporate ethics." Do those exist? I'm usually happy to see a mild candle flicker in the ethics window.

Every Wall Street bank is run by guys who get that there are rules to this game and you don't squeeze the unsophisticated the same way. The same can't be said for Silicon Valleys contribution to the brokerage world.

is this a joke?
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