Kyle Marcelino Tech 07.03.2024 22:Jul PM EDT

Apple Faces Artist Backlash Over AI Transparency Concerns

Apple is currently facing criticisms from artists, authors, and musicians over the lack of transparency in the tech giant's latest AI tool, "Apple Intelligence."

Most of the frustration stems from Apple being secretive about how it collects its training data for its AI, according to several artists via Engadget.

1/ Apple “Intelligence” is here and 0 questions of “where does the data come from?” to be seen in press.

APPLE is trying to shove a huge privacy risk and tech that screams scraped off the internet without consent to the public. So here’s a list of potential data sources 🧵 pic.twitter.com/2WBzRSjsh3
— Karla Ortiz (@kortizart) June 10, 2024

Artists, as much as authors and musicians, are often targets for web crawlers collecting their artworks to train AI models.

Popular AI image-generator Midjourney was even caught last January with a spreadsheet filled with artists' names the AI firm's product "can successfully mimic or imitate."

Artists Concerned with Apple's AI-Powered iOS 18 Update

With Apple rolling out its AI features across its services and products, many artists are concerned that these "upgrades" would clash with the "ethics conversation" many users have previously hoped for.

So far, Apple has only disclosed small details on its data collection methods, claiming it only trains its AI from available data from the open web and the "large amount of training data" created by Apple.

It is worth noting that the company is partnering with several AI firms, including OpenAI which is currently facing multiple plagiarism and copyright lawsuits, for its AI-powered tools.

Also Read: Apple is Closing In on an Agreement with OpenAI for the iPhone's AI Features

How to Opt Out of Apple Intelligence Data Training?

While it cannot entirely protect artists' works from Apple, users can still opt out of the Apple Intelligence experience and prevent Apple from using their data to train its AI.

As with all Apple features, users can deny third-party requests to access their data when opening AI-integrated apps and features in the iOS 18 update.

The same can be done by sending an appeal directly to OpenAI on limiting the accessed data gathered from the user device, although such steps would take some time before being processed.

Of course, users can entirely block out the update and stay on iOS 17, preventing Apple from taking user data for as long as previous iOS patches work.