LogInApple has reportedly prohibited its employees from utilizing AI tools, making it the most recent major company to limit the use of generative AI platforms in the workplace.
Apple has reportedly restricted internal usage of various AI tools such as OpenAI's ChatGPT to safeguard its data from falling into the hands of competitors.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple has prohibited its employees from utilizing ChatGPT and other AI-powered services, including Microsoft-owned GitHub's Copilot, which assists developers in code writing. The ban is rooted in Apple's apprehensions regarding the data-handling practices of these AI platforms, which are either owned or financially supported by its rival, Microsoft.
Apple's cautious approach seems to be well-founded. By default, OpenAI retains all user interactions with ChatGPT. These conversations serve as training data for OpenAI's systems but can also undergo inspection by moderators to uphold the company's terms and services.
In April, OpenAI introduced a feature that allows users to disable chat history. However, even when this setting is activated, OpenAI retains conversations for 30 days, which gives the company the option to review them for potential "abuse" prior to permanent deletion.
Considering the usefulness of ChatGPT in tasks such as code enhancement and idea generation, Apple's concerns are valid regarding the possibility of its employees inputting confidential project information into the system as such information could potentially be viewed by one of OpenAI's moderators.
Apple is not alone in implementing such restrictions, as other companies like Samsung, JP Morgan, Verizon, and Amazon have also enforced similar bans. The latter one has encouraged its engineers seeking coding assistance from ChatGPT to utilize its own internal AI tool, according to a spokesperson's recent statement to the WSJ.
According to sources cited by the WSJ, Apple is also reportedly developing its own large language models which could potentially be used instead of OpenAI's chatbot.
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