Billionaire Elon Musk has issued a stern warning, stating he will ban Apple devices at his companies if Apple integrates OpenAI technology at the operating system level. Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX and owner of the social media platform X, expressed his concerns on Monday.
“That is an unacceptable security violation,” Musk said in a post on X. He further added, “Visitors will have to check their Apple devices at the door, where they will be stored in a Faraday cage.”
The announcement follows Apple’s earlier reveal of new AI features across its apps and operating platforms, including a partnership with OpenAI to incorporate ChatGPT technology into its devices. Apple assured that its AI developments were designed with privacy as a central tenet, utilizing a combination of on-device processing and cloud computing.
Despite these assurances, Musk criticized Apple’s approach, stating, “It’s patently absurd that Apple isn’t smart enough to make their own AI, yet is somehow capable of ensuring that OpenAI will protect your security & privacy!”
Musk’s critique comes in the wake of his lawsuit against OpenAI and its CEO, Sam Altman, filed in early March. The lawsuit alleged that OpenAI had deviated from its original mission to develop AI for the benefit of humanity rather than profit.
In response to these concerns, Musk has established his own AI startup, xAI, to challenge OpenAI and create an alternative to the widely-used chatbot, ChatGPT. xAI was recently valued at $24 billion, raising $6 billion in its Series B funding round.