Apple has come out with a big-bang announcement integrating ChatGPT into its services, but not everyone is impressed.
Elon Musk has threatened to ban Apple devices at his companies if the company integrates ChatGPT at an OS level. “If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies. That is an unacceptable security violation,” he posted on X. “And visitors will have to check their Apple devices at the door, where they will be stored in a Faraday cage,” he added dramatically.
Musk’s comments came after Apple announced something named Apple Intelligence, which would insert ChatGPT’s capabilities into its services. Apple Intelligence would seamlessly help users of its products with text and image generation, and even help power its assistant Siri. Apple emphasized that it would be protecting users’ data, and said that their data would never be stored, and used only for requests.
But that didn’t seem to be enough for Elon Musk, who felt that Apple would inevitably end up giving user data to ChatGPT-owner OpenAI. “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! 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 posted on X.
Musk also used a popular Indian meme to evocatively make his point.
Apple, for its part, has said that privacy is at the core of its products, and assured users that their data will remain safe even after the OpenAI integration. Apple says that user data will be processed on-device, and be stored on something called Private Cloud Compute which ensures the data will never be shared.
But Musk wasn’t impressed, and has threatened a ban on Apple devices at his companies. Musk is likely irate because the company Apple has partnered with is ChatGPT — Musk has a contentious history with ChatGPT’s owner OpenAI, having first founded the company, then exited it, and most recently, sued it for diverging from its mission. It’s perhaps galling for Musk that his own devices — he likely uses iPhone and Macs — could end up giving his data to a company that he believes has strayed from its original mission. He seems to have thus decided to use his substantial audience to make the case that Apple’s integration with OpenAI is something users should be wary of. And given the traction on his posts — his posts criticizing Apple have been reposted hundreds of thousands of times — he seems to be effectively making his point.