Musk will ban Apple devices if OpenAI is integrated into the operating system

(Bloomberg) — Billionaire Elon Musk said he would ban Apple Inc. devices from his companies if OpenAI’s artificial intelligence software was integrated at the operating system level, calling the partnership a security risk.

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The comments followed a presentation from Apple Inc. on Monday, when the iPhone maker said customers would have access to OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot through its Siri digital assistant. Apple plans to release the features as part of a suite of new AI capabilities later this year.

Musk co-founded OpenAI, but had a falling out with the San Francisco-based startup. He has expressed concerns about the security implications of the rapid development of generative AI technology, but is also working on his own ChatGPT competitor.

“If Apple integrates OpenAI at the operating system level, Apple devices will be banned in my companies,” Musk wrote on X, the social network he owns. “This is an unacceptable security breach.”

Musk runs Tesla Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. He also has his own AI startup called xAI with a chatbot called Grok.

“Visitors will have to check in their Apple devices at the door, where they will be stored in a Faraday cage,” he added, referring to a device that blocks electromagnetic fields.

Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

During Apple’s presentation, the company said that “ChatGPT integration” will come to its operating systems for iPhone, iPad and Mac computers later this year. But it also said that user data would not be tracked and that there would be other precautions.

“Privacy protections are built in when accessing ChatGPT in Siri,” Apple said in a statement announcing the feature. “Requests are not stored by OpenAI and users’ IP addresses are hidden.”

Musk continued to criticize Apple on Monday, saying the company couldn’t create its own AI and had “no idea what was really going on when they handed their data over to OpenAI.”

–With assistance from Rachel Metz and Mark Gurman.

(Updates with more from Apple’s presentation in eighth paragraph)

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