Elon Musk, the chief executive of Tesla, has warned that his companies could prohibit the use of Apple devices if Apple were to integrate technology from OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, at the operating system level. The claim was shared in a message posted on X, where Musk argued that such an integration would constitute an unacceptable breach of security. He emphasized that Apple devices would be barred across his companies if the OpenAI technology becomes part of iOS or other Apple software stacks.
In Musk’s view, visitors and employees at his firms would be required to leave Apple devices at the entrance. He described the devices as being stored in a Faraday cage to shield them from electromagnetic interference, a measure he suggested would be used to enforce the policy within his corporate environments. These remarks come shortly after Apple announced plans to partner with OpenAI so Siri could access ChatGPT responses by the end of the year, allowing users to benefit from OpenAI’s conversational capabilities when interacting with Apple’s assistant.
Musk criticized Apple as not being sufficiently capable of building its own AI and questioned whether it could guarantee the security and privacy of data if it relies on OpenAI. He asserted that Apple does not fully understand what happens to data once it is shared with OpenAI. If Musk’s warnings were to be realized, workers and visitors at Tesla, SpaceX, and potentially other companies in his portfolio could be restricted from using devices produced by Apple.
Musk is widely regarded as one of the world’s wealthiest individuals. Beyond his role at Tesla, he owns other technology ventures and oversees Starlink, a satellite network, as well as X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter. These relationships frame a broader discussion about the strategic balance between proprietary AI development and the integration of external AI services within large, multi-industry technology ecosystems.