Apple Cracks Down on AI Data Sharing With New App Review Guidelines

Apple has introduced new guidelines for data sharing with third-party artificial intelligence (AI) services for app developers. The new rules were mentioned in the company's App Review Guidelines last week, highlighting the company's intent to crack down on those developers that do not seek explicit permission from users or use their data in unauthorised ways. Interestingly, this update to the guidelines is also the first time the Cupertino-based tech giant has added the word AI in the document, highlighting a broader acceptance within the company towards accepting the technology.

Apple Lays Down Rules for Third-Party AI Data Sharing

The changes to the App Review Guidelines (first spotted by TechCrunch) were made last week. Under the “Data Use and Sharing” section (5.1.2), Apple now mentions, “You must clearly disclose where personal data will be shared with third parties, including with third-party AI, and obtain explicit permission before doing so.”

Looking beyond the fact that the company actually used the AI acronym, this is also the first time Apple has taken a step against the industry-wide issue of AI models being trained on user data. The guidelines now make it mandatory for app developers to disclose how a user's conversational data or their personal information, such as email ID and mobile number, is being used and with whom it would be shared. The developers are also required to share the details about the third-party AI models that will receive this information. Developers also need to obtain explicit permission from users regarding the same.

Additionally, Apple highlights that data collected from apps can only be shared with third parties to improve the app or show ads to users. Apps that do not follow these guidelines or with the region's data privacy laws “may be removed from sale and may result in your removal from the Apple Developer Program.”

The rest of the guidelines remain the same. However, this new development should assure users that the AI apps in the App Store will not be sneakily collecting their data or using any information to train large language models (LLMs) without explicit permission.