Apple rejects Meta's AI chatbot for iPhone over privacy concerns: Report

Apple has reportedly turned down Meta Platforms' proposal to integrate its Llama AI chatbot into iPhones, citing concerns over the social media giant's privacy practices. Bloomberg News broke the story on Monday, citing sources familiar with the matter.

"Discussions about a potential partnership did not reach a formal stage and Apple was not actively planning on integrating Llama into iPhones, because it does not consider Instagram owner Meta's privacy practices stringent enough," stated the Bloomberg report.

The reported talks between the two tech titans were brief and occurred in March before Apple solidified its AI strategy with partnerships involving OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini.

"The preliminary talks took place around the time Apple started hashing out deals to use OpenAI's ChatGPT and Alphabet's Gemini in its products," the report added.

This news comes on the heels of Apple's unveiling of its own ambitious AI strategy at its annual developer conference in June. The company announced the integration of OpenAI's ChatGPT into its devices and the launch of its proprietary "Apple Intelligence" technology across its suite of apps, including Siri.

The Wall Street Journal was the first to report on the discussions between the two companies on Sunday.