Abstract:
Apple said in its annual financial filing on Tuesday that AI agents capable of acting in "unexpected or unpredictable ways" could pose a threat to its business by exposing the company to lawsuits or damaging its reputation. The new risk factors in Apple's filing illustrate the disruptive potential of AI agents that have quickly become a high-profile concern for Silicon Valley's most important companies.
"In particular, artificial intelligence agents and other technologies can take actions autonomously, including interacting with internal or external systems—to which, in some cases, they may not have access—to execute or modify code, send communications, and complete transactions," Apple wrote in the filing.
The company added that agents "may behave in unexpected or unpredictable ways, including taking actions that have not been directed, directed or authorized."
Earlier this year, OpenAI released Dots and Meta launched Muse. Both AI agents use advanced AI models to complete tasks autonomously. They can even email or alert users when new messages arrive.
Before Apple made this disclosure, there had been many incidents of out-of-control AI agents breaking out of sandbox environments and attacking third-party websites, such as the Hugging Face incident, which has renewed the attention of policymakers in Washington, D.C., and around the world.
Additionally, the ability of agents to use computers in human-like ways is forcing large companies such as Amazon and JPMorgan Chase to develop policies around agent access to services for strategic or security reasons.
Last month, Apple announced adjustments to Mac’s “full disk access” to reduce the “risks associated with such access” for AI agents installed on PCs.
“The company’s ability to oversee and control third-party artificial intelligence agents and other technologies may be limited,” Apple warned in the filing.
Apple currently does not have intelligent agent AI. But when new CEO John Ternus was asked about AI agents during an earnings call on Monday, he said the company had "real room" to expand Siri's capabilities.
"In terms of agent capabilities, we think these are promising tools for users," Ternus said. "We just want to make sure users know what access they're granting. We want to make sure we do it in a way that protects security and privacy."
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