Apple prohibits use of AI tools including ChatGPT for its employees

The major tech firms are concerned about confidential information being accidently fed into the data stream of these AI tools

Apple is the latest tech giant to prohibit the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, including ChatGPT. This comes after major tech companies are cracking down on the use of ChatGPT.

Apple has banned the use of ChatGPT and other AI tools for its employees according to a Reuters' report citing Wall Street Journal. The major tech firms are concerned about confidential information being accidentally fed into the data stream of these AI tools. Apple has also directed employees to stop using Microsoft-owned Github's Copilot, which is an AI tool that aids in writing software code.

Apple is also working on a generative AI tool for internal use but was the first major tech firm to make AI tools available to the public with its Siri, a voice assistant, back in 2011.

Like all the other major players Apple is treading the AI path carefully. Apple has also blocked the update of certain generative AI applications on its App Store.

Previously, Amazon and Samsung had warned their employees to not share any confidential information with ChatGPT or optimise their software code by using ChatGPT. With the recent AI hype big tech and major bank employees are using AI tools to write internal e-mails, marketing, and media content.

The main concern with the use of these AI tools is the technology behind many of these tools, which is known as generative AI. The response created by generative AI depends on the amount and kind of data it is being fed, which raises concerns for privacy and copyright.

Hence these organisation are concerned about confidential data be it internal e-mails or software code. To address this concern, ChatGPT has declared the launch of a "incognito mode" for ChatGPT. By using this mode, users can be assured that their conversational history won't be recorded or used to improve the AI model's skills. The decision was made in response to growing criticism of how chatbots and AI systems like ChatGPT handle and exploit enormous volumes of user data for training and improvement.