What Apple’s deal with ChatGPT AI means for iPhone data privacy
Apple’s deal to partner with ChatGPT AI has the world’s richest man Elon Musk threatening to ban all Apple devices at his company. So what does it mean for iPhone users?
The world’s richest man has threatened to ban iPhones at his companies, claiming the devices could lead to major privacy breaches.
Elon Musk made a slew of remarks at Apple overnight after the company announced an overhaul of its AI capabilities, a move the Tesla boss has described as “patently absurd”.
It arrived as Apple, at its World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC), announced a raft of new AI features, some of which work in conjunction with OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
Those new features, which fall under the banner “Apple Intelligence”, include a major upgrade of the company’s 14-year-old voice assistant Siri, which would now be able to mine through mobile apps to “meaningfully help complete an array of tasks”.
What is Apple AI (Apple Intelligence)?
Apple Intelligence is Apple’s first major move in the AI space which will have the company now competing with some of the world’s largest companies as it looks to stake its place in the consumer AI space.
Apple devices will now be able to read personal information to find specific photographs of family members or friends, assess traffic and proofread texts.
Users will also be able to generate images and emojis – pictograms used in text messaging to show emotion – on demand with AI.
All these moves will significantly improve the way Apple users go about their day-to-day life, said Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook.
“We think Apple Intelligence is going to be indispensable to the products that already play such an integral role in our lives,” he said in a presentation.
Is Apple partnering with OpenAI?
Apple Intelligence was built in-house by the company to use “generative models with personal context to deliver intelligence”.
But Apple has also joined a growing list of companies which have decided that partnering with other AI developers is far more efficient.
If a user’s request is too complex for Siri and Apple Intelligence, she will provide the user with the option to ask ChatGPT instead.
Apple has integrated OpenAI’s ChatGPT, allowing access to certain features and parts of the company’s operating system including writing.
ChatGPT can be used to generate other forms of content. In the compose feature, ChatGPT can generate text for different occasions, as well as images to “complement” the text it has generated.
Will my iPhone data be safe?
While a lot of Apple Intelligence features will be performed on-device, ChatGPT queries will filter through OpenAI’s servers.
Apple has said that no user information would be shared with OpenAI, and that the company would not be able to identify queries from specific Apple users.
The company said that devices would always seek a user’s approval before any questions, documents or images are shared with ChatGPT.
“Privacy protections are built in for users who access ChatGPT — their IP addresses are obscured, and OpenAI won’t store requests. ChatGPT’s data-use policies apply for users who choose to connect their account,” Apple said.
One of the main goals for the integration was so that users could access ChatGPT’s “expertise” without “needing to jump between tools”.
Which devices will be affected by Apple AI?
Musk has made some major claims overnight, describing Apple’s partnership with OpenAI as “patently absurd”.
“It’s patently absurd that Apple isn’t smart enough to make their own AI, yet is somehow capable of ensuring that OpenAI will protect your security & privacy!” he wrote on his social media platform X, formerly Twitter.
Musk has also claimed that Apple would have no ability to control data from its device users once it has been accessed by Open AI.
“Apple has no clue what’s actually going on once they hand your data over to OpenAI. They’re selling you down the river,” he said.
Has Musk banned Apple?
Musk has threatened to ban his employees from using Apple devices. He has also threatened to ban visitors from bringing Apple-made products inside.
“If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies. That is an unacceptable security violation,” he wrote on X.
“And visitors will have to check their Apple devices at the door, where they will be stored in a Faraday cage.”
Will this affect other Apple devices like the Apple Watch and iPad?
Apple has reserved its new AI features for its premium devices, making them available on the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max and iPad and Mac with the M1 chip or later.
The features will become available as part of a beta trial with iOS18, iPadOS 18 and macOS Sequoia later this year.
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