Apple is reportedly tightening internal usage of AI-powered tools such as ChatGPT by OpenAI and GitHub's Copilot, owned by Microsoft, to safeguard its proprietary data from competitors. According to The Wall Street Journal, Apple's concern lies in the potential risk of their confidential data reaching developers who train models on user data.
OpenAI's official ChatGPT app was launched on iOS on Thursday, but Bloomberg's Mark Gurman tweeted that the chatbot has been on Apple's restricted software list for months. It appears that Apple is not alone in this precautionary measure. In May, Samsung had also issued a similar ban after encountering three incidents where proprietary company data was input into the ChatGPT.
Several prominent organizations including Bank of America, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan, Walmart, and telecom heavyweight Verizon have reportedly restricted their staff from accessing ChatGPT.
Although the WSJ report mentioned that Apple is in the process of developing its own generative AI models, it did not elaborate on their potential applications. Recent job postings, however, hint at Apple's active pursuit of talent in the generative AI field. In January, Apple made a foray into generative AI with the release of AI-powered book narrations.
With the theme of the recently concluded Google I/O developer conference being AI, industry watchers are eagerly anticipating AI-related announcements from Apple in the forthcoming Worldwide Developer Conference (WWDC) next month.
