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One of the most important announcements from WWDC was the upcoming release of Apple Intelligence. Apple is putting its own stamp on the term “AI” and rethinking how AI should work to maximize device performance while protecting user privacy. The big question is: what does this mean for IT teams?

About Apple @ Work: Bradley Chambers managed an enterprise IT network from 2009 to 2021. Drawing on his experience deploying and managing firewalls, switches, a mobile device management system, enterprise-grade Wi-Fi, thousands of Macs, and thousands of iPads, Bradley will demonstrate ways Apple IT managers deploy Apple devices, build networks to support them, train users, share stories from real-world IT management, and identify ways Apple could improve its products for IT departments.

What is Apple Intelligence?

Apple Intelligence features include personalized notification prioritization on iPhone, generative writing tools for different apps, image generation via command prompt, and more. There are five key pillars of Apple Intelligence that, when combined, differentiate it from other existing AI (artificial intelligence) tools.

• Powerful: Can offer really useful help
• Intuitive: Easy to use and accessible
• Integrated: Integrated into the core of your devices
• Personal: Understands your personal context
• Private: Designed from the ground up for privacy

Which devices support Apple Intelligence?

Apple Intelligence will be delivered in a software update, but it won’t be available on all devices. On the iPhone side in particular, it’s limited to the iPhone 15 Pro line and the upcoming iPhone 16 line. As companies think about how to use Apple Intelligence at work, device support could be an important part of the plan.

iPhone

• iPhone 15 Pro
• iPhone 15 Pro Max
• *The entire iPhone 16 series is also expected to support AI

Mac

• M3 MacBook Air
• M2 MacBook Air
• M1 MacBook Air
• M3 MacBookPro
• M2 MacBookPro
• M1 MacBook Pro
• M3 iMac
• M1 iMac
• M2 Mac mini
• M1 Mac mini
• M2 Mac Studio
• M1 Mac Studio
• M2 Mac Pro

iPad

• M4 iPad Pro
• M2 iPad Pro
• M1 iPad Pro
• M2 iPad Air
• M1 iPad Pro

Private cloud computing

Apple Intelligence may require additional processing power that the device alone cannot handle. To solve this problem, Apple has integrated a second layer of processing power called Private Cloud Compute (PCC) into the Apple Intelligence framework. PCC is a cloud-based processing system designed to handle more complex queries by using larger and more complex models in the cloud.

Apple has developed Private Cloud Compute (PCC), a system based on server hardware powered by Apple Silicon and secured. PCC uses a subset of iOS and macOS to support Large Language Model (LLM) inference workloads with a minimal attack surface.

When a user’s device requests access to PCC, the request is encrypted end-to-end using public keys of verified PCC nodes to ensure security during transmission.

The “private” aspect of PCC includes:

1. User data uploaded to Apple’s cloud is used only for immediate processing and is not stored after the request is completed.
2. To maintain security and data protection guarantees, only tested tools are used to maintain and monitor PCC.
3. PCC’s data protection cannot be circumvented even in the event of system failures.
4. Attackers cannot target specific user data, but only the system as a whole.
5. Security researchers can verify PCC’s privacy and security guarantees.

Once Apple Intelligence is fully implemented, security researchers will be able to assess the extent to which Apple meets these goals.

ChatGPT integration

Apple is planning an optional integration between Apple Intelligence and ChatGPT that will enhance the capabilities of Siri and writing tools. For example, Siri could use ChatGPT to respond to questions about photos, and when composing text in a writing tool, ChatGPT could take the lead.

This integration is always optional. Users have complete control over when and if ChatGPT is used, and must confirm whether their information should be shared with the service. IT teams also have a say here, which we’ll get to in a moment. Using ChatGPT within Apple Intelligence doesn’t require a separate OpenAI account, but if you have one, you can access the additional features it offers directly from Apple Intelligence.

Apple Intelligence and IT teams

Apple Intelligence is scheduled to launch in beta this fall, but the exact timing is yet to be announced. This will give us several months to address any concerns our company’s security and compliance teams likely have.

Key questions for IT teams are likely to include:

• What could Apple Intelligence do with our company data?
• Where does this data go?
• Who has access to it?
• How do we know it is safe?
• Can we log what happens?

Other AI tools face these issues as well, and Apple seems ready to address them. Apple says it will deliberately limit the data sent outside the device. In the case of PCC, there are strong safeguards in place to protect the privacy of end-user data.

Not only is Apple requiring organizations to trust it (a delicate balance for compliance), the company is also building verifiability into Apple Intelligence. Apple has also promised a third-party audit and will make the results public.

The partnership with OpenAI has probably raised the most questions among security teams. However, it is important to remember that using ChatGPT through Apple Intelligence requires the user’s permission. OpenAI seems to follow some of Apple’s data management policies for Apple Intelligence: user IP addresses that choose to use ChatGPT are obfuscated, user requests to ChatGPT are not stored in the cloud, and this data is not used to train OpenAI’s models. Will IT teams be able to block ChatGPT integration with a profile? Time will tell. Apple will likely enable MDM solutions to restrict access to Apple Intelligence and also manage the relationship with Apple Intelligence.

One question is whether IT will be able to block access to Apple Intelligence entirely. A more granular approach would make sense: Rather than giving IT and security teams a blanket kill switch for the entire service, systems should be able to control different aspects of it. At a minimum, IT teams may want the ability to disable PCC and ChatGPT and rely 100% on on-device processing.

Ultimately, I hope Apple gives IT teams tools to control the use of Apple Intelligence, whether that means blocking certain verticals entirely or at least controlling different parts of it. As Apple becomes more of a dominant endpoint in the enterprise, it needs to put up guardrails for IT streams. Generative AI services have been the wild west so far, so I’m glad Apple is taking a measured approach to on-device usage.

Apple @ Work is brought to you exclusively by Mosylethe only unified Apple platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates all the solutions needed to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage and secure Apple devices in the workplace into a single professional platform. Over 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to get millions of Apple devices up and running effortlessly and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and find out why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.