Elon Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, expressed concerns about Apple’s partnership with OpenAI in a series of social media posts. He called the integration between the two companies a security violation and criticized Apple for not developing its own AI. Musk threatened to ban Apple devices from his companies if Apple integrates OpenAI at the operating system level, claiming that the company has no clue about protecting user security and privacy.
Apple announced its foray into artificial intelligence with an update to its voice assistant Siri, which now includes OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbot. Users will be asked for permission to share their questions with ChatGPT, and their information will not be logged. Despite Musk’s criticism, Apple stated that its integration with OpenAI is an optional feature and it is using its own AI technology. Musk directly replied to Apple CEO Tim Cook’s post, vowing to ban Apple devices from his companies unless Cook discontinues what he called “creepy spyware.”
Musk’s companies, including Tesla and SpaceX, employ over 140,000 people globally. This year, Tesla has implemented layoffs exceeding 10% of its workforce. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 but stepped down from its board in 2018. He has been a vocal critic of the company and CEO Sam Altman, even suing OpenAI and Altman in March for allegedly deviating from the company’s original mission to develop AI for the benefit of humanity. Musk has raised $6 billion in funding for his competing AI venture xAI, which aims to offer an alternative to OpenAI’s offerings.
In addition to Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI, Musk is also involved in companies like Neuralink, which focuses on brain-computer interfaces, and Boring Company, which is involved in tunneling projects. Musk’s first product with xAI, Grok, is positioned as a politically incorrect answer to ChatGPT. Despite his criticisms of OpenAI and Apple, Musk has not responded to requests for comments on the situation. It remains to be seen how the dispute between Musk, Apple, and OpenAI will unfold and what impact it may have on the broader AI industry.
