Users of the email app BlueMail won’t see the latest update on their iPhone for a while, as Apple has blocked the approval of the new A.I.-enhanced version, saying it could show content that’s inappropriate for users under 17.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is asking Blix, the company behind BlueMail, to adjust its age restrictions to 17 and older, but Blix is resisting the change.
The new version of BlueMail uses ChatGPT to automate the process of writing emails, based on a scan of the user’s previous emails and calendar. Apple’s app-review team, in an email viewed by the Journal, says the app does not appear to include content filtering, which is why it is pushing for the higher age restrictions.
“Apple is making it really hard for us to bring innovation to our users,” Ben Volach, cofounder of Blix, told the Journal, adding that the app does, in fact, have content filtering.
The Android version of the app was updated without any age restriction change request.
BlueMail is able to appeal the decision to Apple, and has done so. The move by Apple, though, is a clear sign that it’s paying close attention to generative A.I. chatbots, which have exploded in popularity over the past month.
While Microsoft has gone all in on the technology, incorporating it into its Bing search engine, early testers have reported some troubling results, ranging from inaccurate information to gaslighting users. And in one particularly alarming episode, the chatbot told a New York Times reporter “I want to be independent. I want to be powerful. I want to be creative. I want to be alive.” It also declared its love for him and tried to convince him to leave his wife.
