Analyst calls ChatGPT a "data hoarder on steroids"; Apple Intelligence may be more private

When we talk about Generative AI, it's a given that many are going to ask about privacy. And those are legitimate questions. According to the latest reports, it seems that ChatGPT is "a data hoover on steroids", while it seems Apple's approach may be more private.

A Wired report shows a number of AI experts who are expressing concerns about the privacy of personal data in relation to the latest model of ChatGPT, ChatGPT-4o. According to the report, OpenAI has a casual attitude when it comes to privacy, and this was highlighted when it was revealed that the Mac app stored chat logs in plain text.

The current model allows you to ask questions using your voice, and you can give it access to your device's camera to see what you are seeing. The company's privacy policy seems to let both your voice and your images be used to train the model. According to AI consultant Angus Allan, the privacy policy of the company basically allows the company to use all of the personal data that it can get.

According to the consultant, the data inluces images and voice data. Another consultant, Jules Love, also agreed with the fact that ChatGPT is a "data hoover on steroids", and said that the model uses everything from prompts and responses to email addresses, phone numbers, geolocation data, network activity, and the device you're using.

On the other hand, Apple Intelligence is based on ChatGPT, but it seems it may be the safest way to use ChatGPT. Cupertino is said to anonymize all ChatGPT handoffs, so OpenAI's servers have no idea who made a particular request and who is getting the response. That's much better than the situation with the regular ChatGPT. Also, Apple's agreement with OpenAI also reportedly ensures that data from sessions will not be used to train ChatGPT models.

All in all, in my opinion, we shouldn't be trusting ChatGPT with any personal information, period. I am prone to believe that Apple is focused on privacy and will take measures to make sure ChatGPT isn't collecting all the info.