Elon Musk is threatening to ban employees from using Apple devices with new AI software

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is threatening to ban employees at his companies from using Apple devices if the tech giant continues with plans to integrate artificial intelligence features into its devices.

Musk, who launched his own artificial intelligence venture last year, says Apple’s newly unveiled software integration, which is expected to go live later this year, constitutes an “unacceptable security breach.”

“If Apple integrates OpenAI at the operating system level, Apple devices will be banned from my companies,” Musk said in a statement. He added that visitors will also have to check their Apple devices at the door, where they will be stored in a box that can block some electromagnetic fields.

The threat emerged after Apple announced that it was working with ChatGPT developer OpenAI to integrate the technology into its devices, including iPhone, iPad and MacBook. AI services highlighted by Apple include context-sensitive notifications, basic image generation tools, and writing and proofreading tools.

The company’s reach is expected to be significant as there are over a billion iPhone users worldwide, and many of them will be trying artificial intelligence tools for the first time thanks to Apple products. However, Musk claims that the new venture is a step in the wrong direction when it comes to security and protection of user data.

“It is patently absurd that Apple is not smart enough to create its own AI, and yet is somehow able to ensure that OpenAI will protect your security and privacy,” he wrote. “Apple has no idea what’s actually going on when it gives your data to OpenAI. They sell you out over time.”

Earlier this year, Musk sued OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman, claiming the company betrayed its original goal of using artificial intelligence technology to benefit humanity. Musk helped fund OpenAI in its early years and served on the company’s board since 2015, then resigned in 2018 to focus on Tesla’s autonomous vehicle goals.

According to the lawsuit filed in San Francisco Superior Court, Musk, Altman and CEO Greg Brockman agreed that OpenAI would be run as a nonprofit public benefit organization. The lawsuit claims that OpenAI has also agreed to make its code open source, meaning anyone can inspect, modify and improve it.

However, in the lawsuit, Musk maintains that by working with Microsoft, OpenAI has become “a de facto closed-source subsidiary of the largest technology company in the world” that seeks to “maximize profits for Microsoft, not for the good of humanity.” “

Microsoft invested $1 billion in OpenAI in 2019 and signed a deal that gave Microsoft exclusive rights to AI products created by OpenAI. This license is expected to expire if and when OpenAI ever achieves artificial general intelligence – a theoretical state in which artificial intelligence equals or exceeds human cognitive capabilities.