Apple has given shoppers an early look at one of its next AI features – but it wasn’t through a product launch or a keynote presentation. Instead, the company updated the privacy policy in the background, for its Apple Store (not to be confused with Apple App Store) with a new section that introduces a virtual shopping assistant that will let people chat about Apple products before deciding what to buy.
The assistant has not launched in the app, but the privacy policy explains how it will work. It also explains what Apple does with the information people share during a chat.
What Has Apple Announced?
The update was first spotted by MacRumors, which found the new section in the Apple Store app privacy policy called Virtual Shopping Assistant.
Once available, shoppers will be able to ask for advice through a chat interface to take away the need to go through pages of specifications. Someone choosing between two iPhones could ask which model suits photography. Someone shopping for a MacBook could ask which machine is best for editing videos or everyday work.
Apple has not made the feature available for everyone and the chat interface is not live in the Apple Store app yet, but the company is probably testing it out on a small group of users.
What Happens When You Start Chatting?
Apple says the assistant will personalise replies using account information, device identifiers, carrier information, chat information and, if someone allows it, location data.
The company explains exactly how that information will be handled. Apple says, “Where the Apple Store app virtual shopping assistant is available, Apple collects and stores your account information, device identifiers, carrier information, chat information, and where enabled, location data to personalise the chat experience, provide relevant responses, and if you opt in, to improve the virtual shopping assistant.
More from Artificial Intelligence
- Are Companies Still Laying Off Employees For AI?
- AI Minister In, Tech Department Out – Is The UK Sidelining Tech For AI?
- Is European AI Sovereignty Entering A New Phase?
- Will The EU’s Mandatory AI Watermarks Actually Stop Deepfakes?
- What’s The Difference Between Open Weight And Open Source AI?
- NVIDIA’s AI Tool Can Spot Deepfake Videos – Is The Company Starting Too Many Projects At Once?
- Frontier AI Or Budget Models – Which Strategy Makes Sense For Your Business?
- Nvidia Has Its Own AI Model – How Will This Affect Competition In The Industry?
“Before sharing the chat with our partners, Apple scrubs personal identifiers from it. These partners will use this information only to help Apple to provide a conversational response. Apple will save these transcripts to make them available when you return to the Apple Store app, for our business analytics, and if you opt in, to improve the virtual shopping assistant.”
Apple says transcripts will be saved, and this’ll give people a chance to return to earlier chats; the company will also keep them for business analytics.
Anyone who wants their chats used to improve the assistant can decide that for themselves. According to the privacy policy, people can switch this on or off through a new Chat Improvements setting on the Apple Store app.
So, What About The “Partners”?
One line in the privacy policy leaves one thing unexplained. Apple says it shares chats with its “partners” after removing personal identifiers, but it never says who those partners are.
MacRumors says this could mean Apple is using a third party AI model for the shopping assistant instead of relying only on its own tech. Apple has not confirmed which company, if any, is behind the chat replies.
9to5Mac reports that Apple removes personal identifiers before sharing chat content and says those unnamed partners, as they’ve put it, “will use this information only to help Apple to provide a conversational response.” Apple also says anyone with questions about how their personal data is used can contact its Data Protection Officer.
The privacy policy also says the assistant may launch first in selected countries and regions, possibly beginning in English speaking markets before reaching more languages, according to 9to5Mac.
