Apple employees can't use ChatGPT anymore; know why

ChatGPT is a chatbot created by OpenAI. ChatGPT is the smartest artificial intelligence tool available on the internet, and some organisations are concerned that it might actually do more harm than good. It became the fastest-growing app, with over 1 million users in just five days. It is capable of many things, some of which can even match what a human can do. You can answer questions, write essays, and perform many other tasks in a way that resembles human behaviour.

Apple employees will no longer be able to use ChatGPT and other AI tools because they are developing their own similar technology. Apple is concerned that if employees use ChatGPT, they could share sensitive information about their own products. According to a WSJ report, the Cupertino giant has also asked employees not to use Microsoft-owned GitHub Copilot, which automatically writes software code.

Apple is so careful because when people use these models, the data is sent to the developer to improve them further. This creates the risk of inadvertently sharing private or confidential information. OpenAI temporarily took ChatGPT offline in March due to a bug that allowed users to view the titles of another user's chat history. However, OpenAI has introduced a feature that allows users to turn off chat history to avoid training the AI model on that particular data.

We have known Apple for its strict security measures to protect information about its future products and customer data. Many organizations have become wary of this latest technology as their employees have started using it for tasks such as writing emails, creating marketing materials, and coding software. JPMorgan Chase and Verizon have already banned its use, while New York City schools initially banned it but later lifted the ban. Amazon.com has encouraged its engineers who want coding assistance to use its internal AI tool instead of ChatGPT. Apple is also working on its own big language models.

Apple is in the process of developing its own AI product. Its AI efforts are led by John Giannandrea, hired by Google in 2018. Apple has acquired several AI startups under his leadership. During Apple's recent earnings call, CEO Tim Cook expressed concerns about generative AI and stressed the need for a cautious and thoughtful approach to such advancements. Apple has also been closely reviewing new software on its App Store that uses generative AI. When a developer attempted to update an email app with a ChatGPT feature, Apple temporarily blocked the update due to potentially inappropriate content displayed to children. After implementing content filtering, the app was approved.