Hours after Apple announced “Apple Intelligence” – its new generative artificial intelligence initiatives – billionaire Elon Musk blasted the announcement in a series of tweets. If Apple “integrates OpenAI at the OS level,” all Apple devices will be banned at his companies, Musk says.
Elon Musk threatened to make visitors at his companies leave their Apple products at the front, where they would be stored in a Faraday cage, if Apple integrates OpenAI into its next operating system.
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Key Facts
Musk—who cofounded six companies including Tesla, SpaceX and OpenAI itself—said integrating OpenAI at that level “is an unacceptable security violation.”
He said in a follow up post that visitors, apparently referring to those going to his companies’ offices, would “have to check their Apple devices at the door” and they would be kept in a Faraday cage, which blocks electromagnetic fields.
On Monday, Apple CEO Tim Cook announced the next Apple operating system will have ChatGPT directly integrated into iPhones, which would allow the chatbot to write iMessages or answer other generative prompts.
Apple said in a release Monday that “privacy protections are built in for users who access ChatGPT,” adding their IP addresses are obscured and OpenAI would not store requests made of it, but added that ChatGPT’s data-use policies apply.
Crucial Quote
“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!” Musk said on X. “Apple has no clue what’s actually going on once they hand your data over to OpenAI. They’re selling you down the river.”
Forbes Valuation
We estimate Musk to have a net worth of about $207.9 billion as of Monday afternoon, making him the wealthiest person in the world. We estimate Cook’s net worth at $2.1 billion.
Key Background
At its Worldwide Developers Conference, Apple revealed a number of new features users can expect to have on future versions of its operating system. Apple’s announcement of its own AI was long awaited, with most other tech companies, like Microsoft and Google, already working to compete in the AI market.
Musk himself just announced his AI company, xAI, raised $6 billion in a funding round. Musk has feuded with Apple in the past when he accused Apple of sabotaging Twitter after he bought it by reducing its advertising and saying it would take Twitter out of its App Store—though he met with Cook and resolved the issue, saying they had a “good conversation” that “resolved the misunderstanding.”
Musk has also been critical of OpenAI, and in March announced he was suing the company and its CEO Sam Altman for undermining what Musk says was the company’s original goal of developing an open-source AI that would “benefit humanity” in favor of making more money. OpenAI said in a blog post it “intend(s) to move to dismiss all of Elon’s claims.”
What We Don’t Know
When Apple plans to roll out the new operating system. There was no date given that users could expect to be able to update their iPhones to include artificial intelligence.
This article was first published on forbes.com and all figures are in USD.
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