Elon Musk threatens to ban Apple devices from his companies over ChatGPT integration

The feature, part of Apple Intelligence in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, allows Siri to use ChatGPT for complex queries, but only with explicit user permission. This aims to provide richer, more contextual responses without needing the ChatGPT app.

Craig Federighi, Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, assured users during Apple's keynote event that they will have full control over when ChatGPT is used, and data shared with OpenAI will not be logged or stored. Federighi emphasized,

You are in control over when ChatGPT is used and will be asked before any of your information is shared.

Despite these assurances, Musk strongly opposed the integration on his social media platform, X (formerly Twitter). He stated,

If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies. That is an unacceptable security violation.

Musk further insisted, "Visitors will have to check their Apple devices at the door, where they will be stored in a Faraday cage," and criticized Apple's data security measures, claiming,

Apple has no clue what's actually going on once they hand your data over to OpenAI.

Apple and OpenAI have both emphasized that user data will only be shared with explicit consent and designed to be secure. OpenAI noted in a blog post that "requests are not stored by OpenAI, and users' IP addresses are obscured." Users can also opt to connect their ChatGPT accounts for paid features.

Apple's new AI capabilities aim to enhance the AI functionalities of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS while maintaining a strong focus on user privacy through a combination of on-device processing and cloud computing.