In a significant announcement at the WWDC 2024 keynote on Monday, Apple revealed its plans to integrate ChatGPT, OpenAI’s AI-powered chatbot, into Siri and other first-party apps across its operating systems.
This integration is part of a multi-million dollar deal struck between Apple and OpenAI earlier this month, marking a strategic partnership aimed at enhancing the functionality of Apple’s virtual assistant and system-wide applications with advanced AI capabilities.
“We’re excited to partner with Apple to bring ChatGPT to their users in a new way,” OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated. “Apple shares our commitment to safety and innovation, and this partnership aligns with OpenAI’s mission to make advanced AI accessible to everyone.”
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The integration will allow Siri to leverage ChatGPT for expert advice and solutions. For instance, users can ask Siri for menu ideas using specific ingredients from their garden, and after receiving permission, Siri will use ChatGPT to provide a tailored answer. Users will also be able to include photos with their questions or ask ChatGPT about documents or PDFs.
Additionally, ChatGPT will be integrated into system-wide writing tools, enabling content creation, including images, and offering revisions or variations on initial ideas.
These new features will be available on iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia later this year, Apple announced. Users will not need to create a ChatGPT or OpenAI account to access these features, which will be powered by GPT-4o, OpenAI’s latest generative AI model. Premium features will be accessible to subscribers of OpenAI’s ChatGPT premium plans within Siri and other apps with ChatGPT integrations.
Apple has placed a strong emphasis on privacy protections within these integrations. Requests processed by ChatGPT will not be stored by OpenAI, and users’ IP addresses will be obscured.
During the keynote, Apple Senior VP of Software Engineering Craig Federighi highlighted the introduction of “Apple Intelligence,” a system using a “Private Cloud Compute” to ensure data processed on Apple’s cloud servers remains protected.
Federighi made it clear that “You should not have to hand over all the details of your life to be warehoused and analyzed in someone’s AI cloud.”
He explained that many of Apple’s generative AI models can run entirely on-device with the latest A17+ or M-series chips, minimizing the need to send personal data to remote servers. When cloud-based models are necessary, they will run on Apple-designed servers utilizing security tools built into the Swift programming language. Only data relevant to completing the task will be sent to these servers, which are cryptographically set up to ensure Apple devices only communicate with servers that have publicly logged software for inspection.
Despite Apple’s assurances, the integration has not been wholly acceptable. Some users have expressed skepticism about the security of their data. Elon Musk, OpenAI’s co-founder and a vocal critic, condemned the move and announced that Apple devices would be prohibited at his companies.
“If Apple integrates OpenAI at the OS level, then Apple devices will be banned at my companies,” Musk declared, describing it as “an unacceptable security violation.”
He further added that visitors would need to check their Apple devices at the door, where they would be stored in a Faraday cage to prevent any potential data leaks.
Musk criticized Apple’s reliance on OpenAI, stating, “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! Apple has no clue what’s actually going on once they hand your data over to OpenAI. They’re selling you down the river.”