Elon Musk Threatens to Ban Apple Devices Over OpenAI Partnership Misunderstanding

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has caused a stir in the tech world by threatening to ban Apple devices from his companies due to concerns over Apple’s partnership with OpenAI. Musk, who heads companies such as Neuralink, SpaceX, Tesla, The Boring Company, and X, claimed that Apple’s decision to integrate OpenAI technology into its iPhones and iPads was an “unacceptable security violation.”

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Musk stated that visitors would have to check their Apple devices at the door, where they would be stored in a Faraday cage. He referred to the partnership as “extremely concerning,” though some of his comments were flagged for misrepresenting what was actually announced.

Apple recently unveiled a host of new artificial intelligence features, including updates to its virtual assistant Siri that will allow it to hand off some queries to OpenAI’s popular ChatGPT chatbot. The integration will be available within Siri as well as a new system called ‘Writing Tools’ later this year.

Both Apple and OpenAI have emphasized strong privacy protections for users accessing ChatGPT, with data-use policies in place to prevent personal data compromise. Musk continued to question the partnership, stating that Apple’s claims of protecting privacy while handing data over to a third-party AI were not truly protecting privacy.

Despite reassurances from Apple CEO Tim Cook that no data is sent to OpenAI without explicit user permission, Musk remained skeptical and hinted at the possibility of building his own privacy-focused phone in partnership with Samsung. The ongoing debate highlights the importance of privacy and security in the rapidly evolving tech industry.