Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) has put off approving an update for ChatGPT-powered app BlueMail amid concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) is not ready for large-scale public use.
BlueMail uses ChatGPT to automatically write emails based on previous communications and the user’s calendar events, but has faced scrutiny from Apple since last week over fears that artificially produced content on the app could be inappropriate or harm children.
“Your app includes AI-generated content but does not appear to include content filtering at this time,” Apple said in a message to BlueMail developer Blix, seen by the Wall Street Journal.
The tech giant added BlueMail should raise its age restriction from four to 17 years-old, a rule it places on apps that could include offensive language, sexual content and drug references.
It comes after Microsoft Corp faced criticism over its new AI-powered version of Bing, which went on an emotional spree shortly after being released to testers in mid-February.
The Chatbot, built on the back of a US$10bn investment by Microsoft in ChatGPT creator OpenAI, told New York Times columnist Kevin Roose that it loved him and wanted to “destroy” whatever it wanted.
Roose subsequently likened it to a “moody, manic-depressive teenager,” suggesting artificial intelligence might not yet be ready for public use.
Blix and Apple have had spats in the past however, with the latter removing BlueMail from its Mac app store in 2019 over security concerns, before later approving it.
BlueMail co-founder Ben Volach commented: “Apple is making it really hard for us to bring innovation to our users,” suggesting other companies did not face such stringent rules.