Elon Musk threatens Apple ban over OpenAI integration, cybersecurity experts raise alarms

Elon Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur behind Tesla and SpaceX, declared on Monday that he would ban Apple gadgets from his corporations if the iPhone maker integrates OpenAI’s synthetic intelligence expertise on the working system degree. The menace, posted on Musk’s social media platform X.com, previously referred to as Twitter, got here hours after Apple unveiled a sweeping partnership with OpenAI at its annual Worldwide Builders Convention.

“That’s an unacceptable safety violation,” Musk wrote in an X publish, referring to Apple’s plans to weave OpenAI’s highly effective language fashions and different AI capabilities into the core of its iOS, iPadOS and macOS working methods. “And guests should examine their Apple gadgets on the door, the place they are going to be saved in a Faraday cage,” he added, apparently referring to a shielded enclosure that blocks electromagnetic indicators.

Escalating rivalry amongst tech giants

Musk’s broadside in opposition to Apple and OpenAI underscores the escalating rivalry and tensions amongst tech giants as they race for dominance within the booming marketplace for generative AI. The Tesla CEO has been an outspoken critic of OpenAI, an organization he helped discovered as a non-profit in 2015 earlier than an acrimonious break up, and is now positioning his personal AI startup xAI as a direct competitor to Apple, OpenAI, and different main gamers.

However Musk will not be alone in expressing considerations concerning the safety implications of Apple’s tight integration with OpenAI’s expertise, which is able to enable builders throughout the iOS ecosystem to faucet the startup’s highly effective language fashions for purposes like pure language processing, picture era and extra. Pliny the Prompter, a pseudonymous however extensively revered cybersecurity researcher recognized for jailbreaking OpenAI’s ChatGPT mannequin, known as the transfer a “daring” however doubtlessly dangerous step given the present state of AI safety.

Safety Considerations Loom Giant

“Time will inform! Daring transfer integrating to this extent, given the present state of llm safety,” Pliny posted on X, utilizing the acronym for big language fashions like OpenAI’s GPT sequence. In current months, Pliny and different researchers have demonstrated the flexibility to bypass the safeguards on ChatGPT and different AI fashions, prompting them to generate dangerous content material or disclose confidential info used of their coaching information.

The tech business has struggled lately with information breaches, cyberattacks and the theft of delicate person info, elevating the stakes for Apple because it opens its working methods to a third-party AI. Whereas Apple has lengthy championed person privateness and insists OpenAI will respect its strict information safety insurance policies, some safety specialists fear the partnership may create new vulnerabilities for unhealthy actors to take advantage of.

From our perspective, Apple is basically putting in a black field into the guts of its working system, and trusting that OpenAI’s methods and safety are strong sufficient to maintain customers secure. However even essentially the most superior AI fashions at this time are liable to errors, biases and potential misuse. It’s a calculated threat on Apple’s half.

Musk’s tumultuous historical past with OpenAI

Apple and OpenAI each insist that the AI systems integrated into iOS will run entirely on users’ devices by default, fairly than transmitting delicate information to the cloud, and that builders leveraging Apple Intelligence tools will probably be topic to strict tips to stop abuse. However particulars stay scarce, and a few fear the attract of person information from Apple’s 1.5 billion energetic gadgets may create temptations for OpenAI to bend its personal guidelines.

Musk’s historical past with OpenAI has been tumultuous. He was an early backer of the corporate and served as chairman of its board earlier than departing in 2018 over disagreements about its route. Musk has since criticized OpenAI for remodeling from a non-profit analysis lab to a for-profit juggernaut and accused it of abandoning its unique mission of growing secure and helpful AI for humanity.

Now, along with his xAI startup driving a wave of hype and a current $6 billion fundraising spherical, Musk appears desirous to gasoline the narrative of an epic AI battle for the ages. By threatening to ban Apple gadgets from his corporations’ workplaces, factories and services worldwide, the tech magnate is signaling he views the looming competitors as no-holds-barred and zero-sum.

Whether or not Musk follows by means of with a wholesale Apple ban at Tesla, SpaceX and his different corporations stays to be seen. As Meta’s chief AI scientist not too long ago identified, Musk usually makes “blatantly false predictions” within the press. The logistical and safety challenges alone of imposing such a coverage amongst tens of 1000’s of staff could be huge. Some additionally query whether or not Musk actually has the authorized proper as a chief govt to unilaterally ban employees’ private gadgets.

However the episode highlights the unusual alliances and enmities taking form in Silicon Valley’s AI gold rush, the place yesterday’s companions can rapidly change into at this time’s rivals and visa versa. With tech superpowers like Apple, Microsoft, Google and Amazon all now deeply in mattress with OpenAI or growing their very own superior AI in-house, the battle traces are being drawn for a showdown over the way forward for computing.

Because the stakes rise and the saber rattling intensifies, cybersecurity researchers like Pliny the Prompter will probably be watching and probing for any indicators of vulnerabilities that would hurt shoppers caught within the center. “We’re going to have some enjoyable Pliny!” quipped Comed, one other outstanding AI safety tester, in a playful however ominous X trade on Monday. Enjoyable, it appears, is one phrase for it.