An internet privacy expert warned users about the dangers of Apple’s new artificial intelligence feature.
Apple Intelligence, released last month, is built into the operating system, allowing it to extract information from apps and perform actions within them.
Chip Hallett, author of The Ultimate Privacy Playbook, warned that the process allows AI to learn how people use their banking and financial apps and location maps.
However, there are ways to prevent the technology from analyzing sensitive information stored on your smartphone.
There’s a hidden “power off” feature in Settings, found in Apple Intelligence and Siri.
There’s ‘Learn from this app’ turned on automatically, which Hallett urged users to turn off, along with ‘Suggest app’ and ‘Suggest notifications’ switches.
Other tech experts have suggested doing the same with Health and Fitness apps or Apple Intelligence will have access to personal information.
Apple Intelligence’s privacy page assures users that their data is not stored, but also states that the feature “identifies the data needed to provide it to a generative model to better assist you.”
Apple Intelligence, released last month, is built into the operating system, allowing it to extract information from apps and perform actions within them.
“Apple Intelligence is designed to deliver personalized intelligence without Apple collecting your personal data,” the tech giant’s website states.
“To provide a personalized experience, Apple Intelligence uses information on your device, including your apps.”
Apple Intelligence, released only to those with high-end iPhone 15 smartphones and the new iPhone 16, which CEO Tim Cook touted as “a new chapter in Apple innovation.”
To a large extent, Apple Intelligence focuses on so-called “generative” AI models, which allow users to create text or images from prompts.
However, generative AI models analyze data by learning patterns and structures within large data sets, which can be found in iPhone apps.
“Apple Intelligence will learn how to use its banking applications, its financial applications and its location maps,” Hallett said in a tiktok video.
It urged users to open their iPhone’s ‘Settings’, then select ‘Apple Intelligence & Siri’, scroll down again and select Apps.
“Scroll down to where your banking information is,” Hallett said, using her Wells Fargo app as an example.
Chip Hallett, author of The Ultimate Privacy Playbook, warned that the process allows AI to learn how people use their banking and financial apps and location maps. However, there are ways to prevent the technology from analyzing sensitive information stored on your smartphone.
It then urged users to deselect the options.
“I also don’t want Google Maps to know my location and learn from it,” he said.
But Apple Intelligence will still have access to other personal information, such as written messages, photos, videos and calendar events, CNN reported.
However, the tech giant said that Apple Intelligence data is encrypted, specifically through Apple’s ‘Private Cloud Compute’ system.
It ensures that when data is sent to Apple servers for processing, it is only used to fulfill the user’s request and is never stored or made accessible to Apple itself.
The tech giant was so confident that its Apple Intelligence was safe that it offered a reward of up to $1 million to anyone who could hack it before the October 28 launch.
The public was invited to test the security of the ‘Private Cloud Computer’, 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.
However, the system was designed to help improve the lives of its users.
This system features a set of new AI features, including the ability to create custom images and ‘Genmojis’, enhanced Siri capabilities, email generation via ChatGPT integration, and more.
Some features have not yet arrived on iPhones, but will be released with later versions of iOS 18.