Apple has agreed to follow a set of voluntary Artificial Intelligence safeguards established by President Joe Biden’s administration. The Cupertino firm is joining other tech giants in trying to ensure responsible AI development, reports Bloomberg.
The administration announced Friday that the technology giant is joining the ranks of OpenAI Inc., Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc., Meta Platforms Inc., Microsoft Corp. and others in committing to test their AI systems for any discriminatory tendencies, security flaws or national security risks.
The principles call for companies to transparently share the results of those tests with governments, civil society and academia — and to report any vulnerabilities.
The safeguards, announced by the White House last year as part of an Executive Order, are designed to guide the development of AI systems, ensuring they are tested for discriminatory tendencies, security vulnerabilities, and potential national security risks.
The pledge comes as Apple is preparing to incorporate OpenAI’s chatbot application, ChatGPT, into its Siri virtual assistant on iPhones as part of a new suite of AI features.
The guidelines call for companies to openly share the results of AI system tests with governments, civil society, and academia. This transparency is intended to foster an environment of accountability and peer review, promoting the development of safer and more reliable AI technologies. Apple and other tech companies have agreed to also include commitments to test their AI systems for biases and security concerns.
While the guidelines are not legally binding, they do signify an effort on the tech industry’s part to self-regulate and help reduce the potential risks of AI tech. (Time will only tell if it works as well (or as badly) as some other industries’ self-regulation efforts.)
The executive order signed by President Biden last year also requires AI systems to undergo testing before being eligible for federal procurement.
Apple has plans to soon introduce its own AI system (called Apple Intelligence), which will be integrated with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Apple Intelligence will be supported by the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, as well as all upcoming iPhone 16 models. Mac and iPad devices must be equipped with M-series Apple silicon chips.
Apple Intelligence is not yet available in the beta releases of Apple’s upcoming iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia operating systems, but some features are expected in upcoming beta releases this summer. Additional AI features are expected to roll out in the spring of 2025.
