Apple's lawsuit against OpenAI has drawn renewed attention to reports that some former Apple employees retained access to confidential files through their personal iCloud accounts after leaving the company. More than half a dozen former employees told The Information that documents shared during their employment remained accessible after Apple cut off most of their corporate access, with some continuing to receive notifications when files were updated. The documents included confidential material such as plans for product launch events. The former employees said they made no effort to retain access and unexpectedly found the files mixed with their personal iCloud data. The problem reportedly grew from Apple's practice of encouraging employees to connect their personal Apple IDs to company-funded iCloud storage, giving employees 2TB of storage and allowing them to merge it with an existing personal plan. This arrangement placed some workplace files in accounts that Apple didn't fully control, and documents stored outside Apple's managed work folder could remain accessible after an employee returned company devices and left. Apple introduced an Apple Work folder in the late 2010s to give the company more control, and former employees said the folder disappeared when they handed in their badges. However, documents shared outside that folder could remain alongside personal photos and other files, continuing to sync after employment ended. Apple also relied heavily on iMessage for workplace conversations before rolling out Slack around 2019, and former employees could retain old iMessage conversations and attachments. The company reportedly conducts more thorough device reviews with senior leaders during departures, while other workers sometimes received less extensive reviews.