Apple’s recent introduction of Apple Intelligence, a generative AI platform for creating images from text prompts, has ignited backlash among its creative user base. The discontent stems from what many artists perceive as a lack of transparency regarding the data used to train Apple’s AI models. This controversy has cast a shadow over Apple’s longstanding reputation as a champion of the creative community.
Concerns Over Data Transparency
Jon Lam, a video game artist and creators’ rights activist, voiced his frustration with Apple’s opaque data practices. “I wish Apple would have explained to the public in a more transparent way how they collected their training data,” Lam told Engadget. This sentiment is shared by many in the artistic community who have historically been loyal Apple customers.
The crux of the issue lies in how generative AI models like Apple Intelligence are trained. Most companies gather extensive datasets from the internet without explicit consent from content creators. For instance, LAION-5B, a widely used dataset, contains nearly 6 billion images scraped from the web. This practice has led to numerous lawsuits from artists, authors, and musicians who argue that their work is being exploited without permission or compensation.
Apple’s Approach and Community Expectations
Apple’s approach to AI training data has been similarly criticized. In a post on its machine learning research blog, Apple admitted to using AppleBot, a web crawler, to collect public data from the internet. While Apple executives, including AI and machine learning head John Giannandrea, have stated that some training data was created by Apple, specifics remain scarce. Additionally, Apple has reportedly signed licensing deals with Shutterstock and Photobucket, but these agreements have not been publicly confirmed.
Artists like Lam had hoped Apple would adopt a more ethical approach. “I thought they would approach the ethics conversation differently,” Lam said, reflecting a broader expectation that Apple would set a higher standard in the industry. Instead, the company’s lack of clarity has left many feeling disillusioned.
The ethical implications of using public data for AI training are significant. Andrew Leung, an artist who has worked on major films like Black Panther and Mulan, described generative AI as “the greatest heist in the history of human intellect” in testimony before the California State Assembly. Leung argued that the term “publicly available” does not equate to fair use, highlighting a fundamental misunderstanding in the tech industry.
Apple allows websites to opt out of being scraped by AppleBot through the use of robots.txt files, but this measure is seen as inadequate. It remains unclear when AppleBot began scraping the web or how effective opt-out mechanisms are in practice. This lack of control over one’s data further exacerbates the concerns of the creative community.
The backlash against Apple is part of a larger trend of creative professionals feeling betrayed by tech companies. Earlier this year, Adobe faced criticism for using questionable images to train its Firefly AI model, despite claiming ethical practices. Such revelations have fueled a sense of distrust among artists who rely on these tools for their work.
Karla Ortiz, a plaintiff in a lawsuit against Stability AI and DeviantArt, emphasized that all generative AI relies on significant data overreach. “The bottom line is, we know [that] for generative AI to function as is, [it] relies on massive overreach and violations of rights, private and intellectual,” Ortiz wrote on social media, encapsulating the broader frustration within the community.
Apple’s venture into generative AI with Apple Intelligence has sparked significant criticism from its creative users due to a perceived lack of transparency regarding the source of its training data. This controversy underscores a growing discontent among artists who feel exploited by the tech companies whose tools they depend on. As the debate over ethical AI practices continues, it remains to be seen how Apple and other tech giants will address these serious concerns.
