Apple seeks to balance privacy and innovation with ChatGPT agreement

Apple is trying to strike a difficult balance between innovation and privacy as it prepares to launch several artificial intelligence (AI) programs.

As Apple grows its AI offerings through updates to its own capabilities and a partnership to integrate OpenAI’s ChatGPT into Apple devices, the company is pushing new systems to keep user data private and secure.

The tech giant that built its brand on prioritizing user privacy and security is aiming to maintain its reputation while trying to shake up the ongoing AI arms race through guidelines that diverge from typical ChatGPT norms and a new system in cloud to process some AI requests. .

But plans to put ChatGPT directly on devices with a future OS update could risk changing that dynamic for Apple.

“There [are] regulators who look at every technology company with kind of a microscope in terms of antitrust, in terms of privacy and what they’re doing in terms of consumer data that they’re using to monetize it,” said Ari Lightman, a media professor digital at Carnegie Mellon University.

In the past, Apple has stayed away from this and put its focus on selling products and services — and as long as they “stick to their core tenants,” Lightman said he doesn’t think there will be a defection of iPhone users.

But a breach or privacy issues could cost Apple its top position in iOS consumer security and hurt the company, Lightman added.

The company announced two major AI updates for Apple devices – Apple Intelligence and an integration with ChatGPT – at its Worldwide Developer Conference last week.

The two separate updates appear to be aimed at complementing each other, giving users options for different AI use cases. While Apple Intelligence focuses on a user’s personal information stored on their iPhone, integration with ChatGPT would offer users a way to access information external to the generative AI system to assist with certain tasks.

To use ChatGPT, users will be able to access the popular OpenAI chatbot through their Apple device for free without the need to create a separate account. Users will be able to access ChatGPT through Apple’s Siri voice assistant, which will also be updated, or through writing tools.

Along with the AI ​​updates, Apple announced privacy updates aimed at keeping users safe, including stricter standards for ChatGPT integration than typical OpenAI privacy policies.

Apple also announced Private Cloud Compute, a cloud intelligence system designed for private AI processing. Apple said the system brings its “industry-leading security and privacy” from Apple devices to the cloud, and the user’s personal data sent to the system is not accessible to anyone, including Apple, other than the user.

Given Apple’s focus on selling products rather than user data like some of its tech industry rivals, “it’s not surprising that they explicitly highlighted privacy, security and transparency” in the presentation, said Valerie Wirtschafter, a researcher at the Department of Artificial and Emerging Intelligence at the Brookings Institution. Technological Initiative.

“I suspect it would be [a] Pretty horrible business decision to renege on this kind of commitment, but it will certainly be interesting to watch how this plays out in practice,” Wirtschafter said in an email.

The integration has already raised some questions about data privacy, including from Tesla and X owner Elon Musk, a fierce critic of OpenAI, and CEO Sam Altman.

Following Apple’s announcement last week, Musk threatened to ban Apple devices from his companies, calling their integration with OpenAI “an unacceptable security breach.”

Musk’s criticism came after he had already taken legal action against OpenAI. Musk filed and later dropped a lawsuit filed against OpenAI and Altman in March, claiming the company failed to fulfill its founding mission to develop AI for the benefit of humanity, a day after his threat to ban Apple devices over the partnership.

When announcing the integration with ChatGPT, however, Apple announced different rules that would be in effect compared to the typical OpenAI rules.

Notably, user requests sent to ChatGPT through the integration will not be stored by OpenAI. And in addition to the contractual obligation that OpenAI will not attempt to connect a user to their request, Apple will make this difficult on a technical level by obfuscating users’ IP addresses, an Apple spokesperson said.

However, if a user chooses to connect their ChatGPT account, they will be subject to OpenAI rules.

“When you look at Apple’s integration of OpenAI, I think it’s actually a good thing for OpenAI… it’s not a bad thing for Apple, because OpenAI will now, through partnership, [get the] benefit from Apple’s entire experience,” said Jason Hogg, resident executive at Great Hill Partners and former FBI special agent.

Apple’s integration with OpenAI comes as the maker of ChatGPT enjoys more than a year of public popularity with the chatbot on the market. This popularity has also brought scrutiny in the form of regulatory investigations and lawsuits based on copyright issues.

Apple’s move also follows in the footsteps of AI announcements from rivals, including Microsoft, which has integrated OpenAI into its own services, and Google’s launch of rival Gemini chatbot.

Until last week’s announcement, Apple was more silent about AI updates and advances as other tech giants moved forward.

“To what extent does Apple want to be in bed with a company that is deeply sued by a variety of different organizations and associations?” Lightman said.

“It basically shows that they are willing to take this hit to try and level up in terms of AI capabilities, that’s how profitable the space is,” he added.

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story