appleupcoming WWDC Conference to unveil its AI strategy, which will be released as part of iOS 18 and other operating system updates. This comes after Bloomberg reported that Apple plans to use a hybrid approach that combines device-side processing and server-side processing for its AI capabilities.
However, moving user data processing to Apple's servers also raises privacy concerns, especially since Apple has been heavily promoting device-side processing for years. According to The Information, Apple appears to have found a solution that provides powerful AI processing in its cloud while maintaining strict privacy standards.
The Information reports that Apple plans to use "secret computing" technology to achieve "black box processing". Typically, cloud services only encrypt data when it's stored on disk. However, in order to process or transform the data on the server, it needs to be decrypted into memory.
The Information claims that Apple has found a way to keep user data private throughout processing. This approach is conceptually similar to "confidential computing", an industry term for what is known as "trusted computing".It means that the data is always kept confidential during processing.
Apple has been working on a secret project for the past three years, according to the report. The project is known internally as the "Apple Data Center Chip" (ACDC), and the AI chip could help Apple implement a "black box" approach to computing.
The Information notes that there are still potential weaknesses if hackers were able to physically access Apple's server hardware. But all in all, this method is more secure than what other tech giants are doing in the AI space. The system is so secure that Apple could confess to not being able to access the information or provide any user data in the event of a law enforcement subpoena or government investigation.
However, exactly how this technology will work remains unclear. The Information says it's unclear how Apple will be able to maintain the effectiveness of its security model while a single chip in a data center processes requests from many users at once.