Major Shareholders Planning to Force Apple to Reveal Use of AI

[MacRumors]

Some of Apple's biggest investors are set to pressure the company tomorrow to reveal its use of artificial intelligence tools (via the Financial Times).

Apple's annual shareholder meeting takes place tomorrow, allowing those with a major stake in the company to put forward proposals. One resolution proposed by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) asks Apple to disclose its use of AI and any ethical guidelines that the company has adopted regarding the technology.

The resolution is set to be supported by Norges Bank Investment Management and Legal & General, Apple's eighth and 10th-largest shareholders. Norges Bank, which operates the world's biggest sovereign wealth fund, wrote in its voting disclosures that Apple's board should account for "social consequences of its operations and products." Likewise, Legal & General said that Apple "discloses very little about its approach to managing AI-related risks."

Legal & General met with Apple to discuss AI, but it declined to increase transparency around its development and use of the technology. "Apple should be transparent in their uses of AI and their risk management processes," the company said.

The major investor advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services is encouraging Apple investors to support the AI resolution, arguing that Apple's guidelines "do not specifically identify the potential risks resulting from the use of AI" and, as a result, "there are concerns regarding shareholders' ability to properly evaluate the risks associated with the use of AI."

Meanwhile, Apple is urging investors to reject the resolution, claiming that "the scope of the requested report is overly broad and could encompass disclosure of strategic plans and initiatives harmful to our competitive position." Shareholder petitions in the United States are usually non-binding, but those that review support from more than 30% of investors usually put sufficient pressure on the company to act. Apple is widely expected to announce a range of new AI features for its devices at WWDC later this year.

Article Link: Major Shareholders Planning to Force Apple to Reveal Use of AI

 

[DFZD]

Apple has become Oppenheimer now.. it was Einstein not so long ago. Its sad to see their reputation taking such a massive hit as they shifted their focus so strongly towards the bottomline, in fact now it seems its the only thing they care about.

 

[Steve-Jobz]

The trade-off between AI features and user privacy is definitely not easy.

 

[swingerofbirch]

Anyone who has used Siri should have no worries of some sentient killer robot coming out of Cupertino's laboratories.

 

[iZac]

I voted for it too with my meagre few shares

 

[menist]

They should of bought Google shares. Siri is not ready, Apple will have to use Google AI like Samsung.

 

[coffeemilktea]

One resolution proposed by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) asks Apple to disclose its use of AI and any ethical guidelines that the company has adopted regarding the technology.

These people really want to make sure the public knows they're hard at work protecting the public from the potential dangers of SiriGPT.

 

[ifxf]

You can trust that Apple will so neutered AI to protect against offending anyone that it will be useless except as marketing material.

 

[matrix07]

They should have bought Google shares. Siri is not ready, Apple will have to use Google AI like Samsung.

Google AI that appears to be so bias they have to take it down currently?

Google takes down Gemini AI image generator. Here’s what you need to know​

Google takes down Gemini AI image generator. Here’s what you need to know.

Critics said the Google’s Gemini image generator created images of a woman pope and Black founding father.

www.washingtonpost.com

No, thanks.

 

[unregbaron]

If I ran a company shareholder stuff like this would drive me insane...

 

[jlc1978]

Apple has become Oppenheimer now.. it was Einstein not so long ago. Its sad to see their reputation taking such a massive hit as they shifted their focus so strongly towards the bottomline, in fact now it seems its the only thing they care about.

A shift from the theoretical o practical applications is a good thing. Apple has always been about the bottom line; Jobs may have had a vision and approach but he was all about making money.

 

[haemolysis]

Their major risk Apple faces with AI right now, isn’t anything to do with ethics, it’s to do with getting left behind.

If anything, the ethical rot their competitors are going through right now (eg woke gemini) is probably a good handicap to help them catch up.

Of course, software is half the battle. Does Apple have enough GPU/serverfarm power? Or will they also be shelling out to a competitor for it?

 

[DamonOrl]

I voted against it. Why should they be forced to reveal what they are using it for when other companies aren’t also?

Most of the shareholder proposals are just plain dumb

 

[AlmightyKang]

Oh Legal & General are involved. Last bastion of the incompetents that even the civil service rejected.

 

[Born Again]

.

This AI imo is bigger than the Vision Pro.

Vision Pro is like AirPods Max. Niche for the time being. Btw we all called it. Vision Pro wasn’t a hit. It did fine and everyone who wanted one got one.

 

[Wowereit]

You can trust that Apple will so neutered AI to protect against offending anyone that it will be useless except as marketing material.

That's basically every consumer facing AI right now.

It's so full of forced diversity and stupid disclaimers about 'sensitivity' that it has very little use.

If you want a somewhat usable AI, you need quite expensive developer access.

 

[djphat2000]

I think they should disclose what guidelines Apple will/is following. But, nothing specific on what they are doing.
Tell me what you're not going to do with Ai.

 

[nt5672]

A shift from the theoretical o practical applications is a good thing. Apple has always been about the bottom line; Jobs may have had a vision and approach but he was all about making money.

But not at the expense of doing stupid things.

 

[WWPD]

*Tim Cook unleashes AI nano-bots in the boardroom then slowly walks away ....aaaaggrrrh!*

 

[attila]

As much as I distrust tech bandwagon bros with AI (previously crypto), I don't trust share holders enthusiasm over AI. Siri is definitely lacking, but let Apple take their time using proper language modelling and machine learning without sacrificing privacy and copyrights.

 

[I7guy]

Good luck in getting apple to discuss confidential information. I think all of this has to be sorted out and hopefully apple is well within the process to do that.

 

[AAPLbuyback]

I did my part.

 

[bodhisattva]

Anyone who has used Siri should have no worries of some sentient killer robot coming out of Cupertino's laboratories.

'Any AI smart enough to pass a Turing test is smart enough to know to fail it.' — Ian McDonald

 

[jlc1978]

But not at the expense of doing stupid things.

Apple /// - Lisa - Puck Mouse - The Cube - iTunes Phone. He had a string of misses as well; fortunately the hits made up for them.

 

[dizmonk]

This is not going to go well.