Apple Bans ChatGPT Use, Seeks Hundreds of AI/ML Professionals
Apple reportedly banned ChatGPT internally and posted dozens of new AI/ML job openings.
- Apple has reportedly banned ChatGPT use internally due to concerns about leaking sensitive information.
- The company is also seeking AI/ML professionals for multiple roles, including generative AI. Apple posted 56 new AI/ML job openings in May alone.
Days after OpenAI rolled out the ChatGPT app for iOS, Apple has reportedly banned using ChatGPT internally. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal, Apple is concerned about the security of the confidential information/data collected from employees by AI platforms such as OpenAI’s wildly popular ChatGPT.
The company is also restricting the use of the pair programmer, GitHub Copilot, an AI tool that leverages GPT-3, the predecessor to the underlying tech that powers ChatGPT. SetApp’s Mac Developer Survey 2023 reveals that 39% of Mac developers use ChatGPT for development.
While ChatGPT can be used for several types of cyberattacks, such as AI-generated phishing emails, malware, and code, Apple is possibly more concerned with security vulnerabilities in the tool.
In March 2023, OpenAI confirmed a data breach due to a vulnerability in Redis-py, an open-source library it uses. This bug led to ChatGPT exposing email IDs, user conversations, and payment information, which forced OpenAI to take the tool offline.
Additionally, large language models or LLM-based generative AI tools are continuously trained on the data submitted in chats.
Apple isn’t the only one restricting ChatGPT’s use. Banking and financial institutions are apparently most averse to ChatGPT. Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, and Citigroup have all banned ChatGPT.
In the technology sector, Northrop Grumman, Verizon, Accenture, Amazon and Apple’s rival and supplier Samsung have also imposed a ban on using ChatGPT internally. Samsung unbanned the use of generative AI tools before reinstituting it for all company-owned devices and non-company-owned devices connected to its internal networks earlier this month due to “misuse.”
Notably, Microsoft also has vested interests in ChatGPT (funded OpenAI with $11 billion) and Copilot (owns GitHub). So from Apple’s point of view, it makes sense to ensure corporate and technical secrets remain so.
See More: IBM Introduces Watsonx To Streamline Enterprise AI Development
However, it is crucial to recognize the technological and entrepreneurial ramifications of generative AI. In an opinion piece for Spiceworks, Assaf Baciu, co-founder And COO at Persado, wrote, “Over the next few years, generative AI will become a rocket ship for the enterprise — for both business leaders and individual employees.”
Generative AI can change communications, ecommerce, web search, finance, legal, art, software development and hardware design, and more. “As we can already tell, 2023 holds the greatest potential for brands looking to expand their current AI capabilities,” Baciu added.
“Companies looking to remain competitive — and desire to be at the forefront of innovation — need to consider implementing game-changing technology such as generative AI. In doing so, they will play an active role in reshaping the enterprise landscape for years to come.”
Clearly, Apple is unwilling to trade off AI prowess for security. So how does the Cupertino-based technology giant and the world’s most valuable company by market capitalization ensure it isn’t left behind? Simple. Push for developing its own tech stack, which is evident from a surge in related job postings on its website.
Apple is seeking technology professionals for multiple roles in the artificial intelligence and machine learning domain. So far, the company has posted 56 new U.S.-based job openings. Of the 250 AI/ML vacancies at Apple in the U.S., 167 were posted this year as of May 22, 2023.
The following 11 job openings pertain to generative AI in some way:
- Machine Learning Engineer — Generative AI [Santa Clara Valley (Cupertino)]
- Proactive Intelligence, Applied Research Scientist — Generative AI x 3 [Santa Clara Valley (Cupertino) x 2, Seattle x 1]
- Visual Generative Modeling Research Engineer x 2 [San Diego x 1, Santa Clara Valley (Cupertino) x 1]
- AI NLP Content Product Engineer, WW CSO [Santa Clara Valley (Cupertino)]
- AI NLP Product Engineering Manager, WW CSO [Santa Clara Valley (Cupertino)]
- Generative AI Applied Researcher — SIML, ISE [Santa Clara Valley (Cupertino)]
- AIML — Language Engineer (Mexican Spanish) Global Siri [Barcelona]
- AI/ML — Siri Data Curation Engineer, Siri and Information Intelligence [Singapore]
Globally, Apple posted 71 AI/ML jobs in May 2023. The company also has 317 AI/ML job vacancies, of which 232 were published in 2023.
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