🗣️ OpenAI has launched a ChatGPT plugin for the Apple Messages app
🤖 It allows the AI chatbot to read and respond to Apple iMessages on macOS
👀 The service requires deep system-level access, such as giving ChatGPT Full Disk Access and names of contacts
🤔 With such access, it potentially raises privacy and security concerns over what it could do
OpenAI has launched a plug-in for ChatGPT with the Apple Messages app that allows the AI chatbot to read and respond to Apple iMessages on macOS.
As per Bloomberg, the service is only available to ChatGPT Work and Codex users on Mac, allowing them to search messages, and even draft and send replies through ChatGPT on their desktop.
The feature is opt-in, and the report mentions that users will have to do several things to allow the plug-in to work. Firstly, users will have to allow ChatGPT to access their Mac’s on-device Messages history, and be prompted to change their privacy preferences in Mac’s System Settings to give ChatGPT Full Disk Access.
Furthermore, users will have to grant ChatGPT access to the names of their contacts and its automation tools, meaning it’s unlikely to be a service that could be turned on accidentally. However, with it requiring so much access, it raises privacy and security concerns over what ChatGPT might be able to do.
As for what it’s designed for, in the example OpenAI posted, the user asked ChatGPT to look for conversations they’d missed the day before in their Messages app. They then use the chatbot to write and send their reply.
It isn’t clear whether OpenAI has worked with Apple to develop the plug-in, although the Cupertino-based firm has a history of cutting off third-party access to its services if the organization didn’t get permission.
For instance, Apple kept disabling Beeper Mini chat app’s access to iMessage until Beeper gave up on rolling out fixes that re-enabled the integration.
Apple also doesn’t exactly see eye-to-eye with OpenAI at the moment, as it sued OpenAI back in July with accusations of trade secret theft. It claimed that OpenAI specifically hired its employees away with the purpose of obtaining confidential company information.
For reference, OpenAI is currently collaborating with former Apple design chief Jony Ive on a hockey-puck sized smart speaker that could be very expensive.
Reece Bithrey is a journalist with bylines for Trusted Reviews, Digital Foundry, PC Gamer, TechRadar and more. He also has his own blog, UNTITLED, and graduated from the University of Leeds with a degree in International History and Politics in 2023.