Apple is willing to bet big on the security of Apple Intelligence, to the point that the technology giant has offered a reward of up to one million dollars to anyone who can hack it.
The company announced Thursday that it will invite “all security researchers, or anyone with technical interest and curiosity” to conduct “their own independent verification of our claims.”
The public has been challenged to test the security of ‘Private Cloud Compute’, the servers that will receive and process user requests for Apple Intelligence when the AI task is too complex for on-device processing.
The system, according to Apple, features end-to-end encryption and immediately deletes a user’s request once the task is completed.
There are different payments for certain discoveries, but the $1 million goes to anyone who can execute code on the system without being detected and without accessing sensitive parts.
Apple Intelligence is a built-in artificial intelligence system coming to the iPhone 16, 15 Pro, and 15 Pro Max next week.
Apple offers $1 million to anyone who can hack its new artificial intelligence system, Apple Intelligence
The AI-powered product was unveiled in September and revealed new features for sorting messages, generative writing, and creating unique emojis.
But only those with the high-end iPhone 15 and the new iPhone 16 smartphones will have access to the long-awaited platform.
Apple CEO Tim Cook said this marks “a new chapter in Apple innovation.”
What this means for you as a customer is that you can expect to find more AI integrated with your apps and devices from now on.
To a large extent, Apple Intelligence focuses on so-called “generative” AI models, which allow users to create text or images from prompts.
And Apple wants to make sure the system is secure.
“To further encourage its research into Private Cloud Compute, we are expanding Apple Security Bounty to include rewards for vulnerabilities that demonstrate a commitment to PCC’s core security and privacy safeguards,” the company shared in the announcement.
Previously, Apple had only allowed third-party auditors into its Private Cloud Compute, but now anyone can try.
Those up to the challenge also have access to a security guide and virtual environment, allowing people to discuss Private Cloud Compute within the macOS Sequoia 15.1 Developer Preview.
That means people who participate will need a Mac with an M-series chip and at least 16GB of RAM to access.
Apple will pay $100,000 to anyone who can run “unverified” code or code requests that are not verified by the company.
Anyone who can gain access to a user’s application data or other sensitive information about the user outside the “trust boundary” (a boundary where program or execution data changes its “trust” level) could earn up to 250,000 dollars.
And if someone can gain “access to a user’s application data or other sensitive information about the user outside the trust boundary,” they will receive $150,000.
There is a small reward of $50,000 if someone can hack the system to accidentally or unexpectedly expose data.
“We believe Private Cloud Compute is the most advanced security architecture ever implemented for AI cloud computing at scale, and we look forward to working with the research community to build trust in the system and make it even more secure and private over time. “said Apple.
Most iOS users will have to wait until next week to receive Apple Intelligence.
But there will be a waiting list once it launches due to potentially high demand.
The launch version of Apple Intelligence will come with writing tools for correcting and rewriting, smart replies that quickly respond to messages, notification summaries, cleanup in photos and an initial redesign of Siri, and more.
But certain features, including Genmoji, Image Playground, ChatGPT integration, and Visual Intelligence, will arrive as part of iOS 18.2, which should enter beta within the next month.
Others will arrive even later. The completely revamped Siri, for example, won’t be available until 2025.
Additionally, next week’s release only supports US English, meaning countries outside the US will have to wait until December to be able to use Apple Intelligence in their languages.