By Sam Bogda
The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that Apple (NASDAQ:) has blocked an update to a ChatGPT-powered app due to concerns about potential harm from artificial intelligence.
The post said that letters sent to the app maker by Apple Inc (NASDAQ: ) show that approval of an email app update with AI-powered language tools has been delayed over concerns it could generate inappropriate content for children. However, the developer does not agree with Apple’s decision.
Last week, Apple Inc (NASDAQ: ) blocked an update to BlueMail, an email app, over concerns about a new AI feature in the app that, according to BlueMail founder and developer Blix Inc, Ben Volach, could display inappropriate content.
BlueMail’s new AI feature uses the latest OpenAI ChatGPT chatbot to help compose emails using previous email contents and calendar events.
In a document seen by WSJ, sent to BlueMail, Apple had declared that “the app includes AI-generated content but does not appear to include content filtering at this time.”
Apple’s app review team told the company that because the app can produce inappropriate content, BlueMail should raise the age limit to 17 or older, or include a content filter, though Volach said the app has filtering capabilities.
He told the WSJ that Apple is “making it very difficult for us to deliver innovation to our users.”
Following the release of Microsoft’s Bing search engine (NASDAQ: Bing Powered by ChatGPT), early testers expressed concerns about responses generated by the chatbot, such as incorrect information and somewhat coarse and angry responses.
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