Hey Elon, go ahead and lock your Apple devices

Yesterday, after Apple announced a partnership with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT support into the company’s devices, Elon Musk did what he always does: he tweeted. The owner of X wrote on X that he would ban the use of Apple devices in his companies “If Apple integrates OpenAI at the operating system level.” And to that I say: Go ahead. And while you’re at it, also remove your company’s software from the Apple App Store.

Musk’s companies (at least the largest ones) currently include Tesla, SpaceX, X, X AI and Neuralink. Even if we’re just talking about phones — which Apple currently has a 52 percent market share in the U.S., according to Counterpoint Research — about 80,000 of Musk’s 155,000 employees would be subject to the ban if the overall statistics hold true. And that doesn’t count anyone who uses a Mac or iPad. (Note: The lion’s share of these workers will be employed at Tesla, which employs about 140,000 people.)

As we’ve seen with staff reductions at X and Tesla, Musk’s management style can best be described as “willing to shoot himself in the foot.” But placing more than half of its staff under a ban covering one of the world’s most popular gadget makers seems particularly obtuse. Yes, this would all be a headache (especially for the poor souls on his IT teams). But the real problem is that if Elon really cares about security, he is only proposing a half-measure.

Why stop at banning Apple devices? Certainly, the apps his companies create for iOS are also at risk. So why not download apps for X, Tesla and everyone else from the Apple App Store? This would provide even greater insulation from the OpenAI threat, right?

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I’m sure some of the stronger students here have already raised their hands. “But if the problem is that ChatGPT is integrated at the operating system level, shouldn’t that also mean that Musk’s companies won’t be able to use Windows?” How right you are. As a man of conviction, I fully expect Elon to issue a ban these machines also from their workplaces. I suspect its engineers will have a relatively painless time calculating spacecraft trajectories into orbit on the Ti-83.

Musk continued his statements, saying: “It is patently absurd that Apple is not smart enough to create its own AI, and yet is able to ensure that OpenAI will protect your security and privacy! Apple has no idea what’s actually going on when it gives your data to OpenAI. They sell you down the river.

Unsurprisingly, this statement doesn’t accurately describe the Apple-OpenAI partnership, as readers were quick to point out using X’s additional contextual feature. (On Musk’s website, no less, what a disgrace!) Apple says it will have its own models of artificial intelligence that will run on a device or in a private cloud computing and will only send data to OpenAI with the user’s explicit consent on a strict opt-in basis. So despite Musk’s claims, there doesn’t seem to be much fraud involved.

The bottom line is that as the founder and CEO of several companies, Musk can do whatever he wants. In this case, I encourage Elon to go further. Show us that your posts are not a bluff, as some people already claim. It’s time to branch out and find out.