Mosyle brings generative AI to Apple Device Management

Apple Vision may mix reality, but the news hasn’t shifted this year’s big storyline: the steady progress of Generative AI. Now, it’s Apple Device Management that’s gained this kind of intelligence, with Mosyle.

The company has introduced Mosyle AIScript, which it says is the first generative AI-powered macOS scripting tool. The thinking is that IT admins can use natural language with it to create scripts to manage Mac hardware fleets.

The beauty of this is that it should make scripting much more approachable to IT teams, enabling them to automate and perform many tasks on managed Macs.

Complexity made simple

Scripts are often complex, and the creation of them requires expertise that isn’t always easily (or affordably) available. The company says its tool lets admins ask for and receive ready-to-use scripts for thousands of commands ranging from “check the battery health status” to “delete Auditorium from the list of saved SSIDs” — and everything in between. 

Mosyle also introduced Mosyle Script Catalog and Script Favorites. The former provides a selection of ready-to-use scripts for admins with little scripting knowledge, while the Favorites feature lets them share the scripts across their team. These may be of particular use to enterprises currently migrating to Macs, who may find a knowledge gap.

Inspired by ChatGPT

The company was already developing its script catalog, but with the arrival of ChatGPT, it realized there was an opportunity to use natural language queries to find, and possibly even create, scripts for specific tasks.

Available now in beta to Mosyle customers, this trio of tools let admins remotely create, test, execute, automate, and schedule scripts for entire fleets or specific groups of Macs. (The company introduced enhancements for managed iPhones last year.)

“Since our inception Mosyle has worked hard to introduce more products, features and improvements than any other company on the market, setting the standard in Apple device management and security,” Alcyr Araujo, founder and CEO at Mosyle, said in a statement.

“Today is an important chapter in that journey. With more power, intelligence, automation, and accessibility than any other Apple-specific product, these new tools usher in a new era of macOS scripting with the power of generative AI.”

Expect more like this

While the company may be first out the gate with the idea, it’s unlikely to be the last. The entire industry has been moving toward no-code development for years.

The march of digitization across most industries means demand for skilled coders is accelerating faster than the quantity of available talent. This is driving costs higher and accentuates market dominance, as bigger operations are able to attract sought-for experience smaller firms might be unable to afford.

In reality, this means larger companies are most able to enjoy the benefits of digital transformation.

Coding for the rest of us

In theory, no-code and low-code development models help democratize coding, making it possible for less experienced developers to build vital systems. That’s good, as it means smaller enterprises have a chance to remain competitive in a digital world.

Generative AI simply takes this to the next level. In doing so, it shows two things:

• Technology can augment people, empowering them to do more.
• Technology can also reduce the value of people’s skills, empowering employers to get more for less.

The rapid proliferation of these models across almost every industry has sparked stark warnings from some in tech and investigations by governments concerned about the social impact of these technologies as they are applied. Apple and other firms have even banned use of ChatGPT.

But for Apple admins, the capacity to use natural language tools to identity and create powerful scripts to help them manage their device fleets should come in useful.

I can’t help but imagine many developers will find themselves wondering if Apple will ever put generative intelligence of this kind inside its own offerings, particularly Xcode. To what extent would such tools accelerate innovation on Apple’s platforms? Does Apple perhaps have a vision for such plans?

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