On the first day of Apple's annual event, WWDC 2024, the company announced significant updates, including the integration of artificial intelligence into iOS 18. As anticipated, Apple confirmed a collaboration with OpenAI to embed ChatGPT deeply into its devices as a chatbot. However, this announcement did not sit well with Elon Musk.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk expressed his disappointment on X (formerly Twitter), criticizing the Apple-OpenAI partnership. He warned that if OpenAI's technology is incorporated into Apple's operating system, Apple devices would be banned from all his companies. In a direct message to Apple CEO Tim Cook, Musk stated, "Don’t want it (Apple Intelligence). Either stop this creepy spyware or all Apple devices will be banned from the premises of my companies."

Musk further elaborated that visitors to his office would need to check their Apple devices at the door, where they would be stored in a Faraday cage to prevent any data transmission.

Following the announcement, Musk flooded his X profile with memes and posts labeling OpenAI's chatbot as spyware. He argued, "It’s patently absurd that Apple isn’t smart enough to make their own AI, yet is somehow capable of ensuring that OpenAI will protect your security & privacy! Apple has no clue what’s actually going on once they hand your data over to OpenAI. They’re selling you down the river."

Musk claimed that OpenAI uses private data to train its chatbots under the guise of personalization, compromising user privacy. Apple, anticipating such concerns, announced an 'opt-in' option for the integration. Yet, Musk criticized this as well, stating, "Apple using the words 'protect your privacy' while handing your data over to a third-party AI that they don’t understand and can’t themselves create is not protecting privacy at all!"

As backlash grew on X over the OpenAI collaboration, Musk hinted at the potential development of a Grok phone. Grok, developed by Musk's company xAI, is a generative AI chatbot designed as a response to the popularity of ChatGPT, which Musk co-founded. The chatbot is marketed as having a sense of humor and direct access to X.

In response to a user's comment favoring a Grok phone over Apple's AI integration, Musk hinted that such a device could become a reality. He posted, "If Apple actually integrates woke nanny AI spyware into their OS, we might need to do that!" Musk further suggested that the Grok phone is already in development and could be available soon.