A fairly technical article published by The Eighth Rank details their research into this subject and I came away from it impressed, but also concerned.

On one hand, it makes sense that Apple Intelligence would need to build such a thing in order to better understand the context of your requests, anticipate future requests, make suggestions, etc. The idea is that, over time as it continues to collect data about you and refines your personal knowledge graph, Apple Intelligence would become even more personalized and, therefore, helpful and precise.

On the other hand, if this information ever became available to someone with malicious intent and with resources, it could be devastating for you and potentially for anyone else whose info has been included in your personal knowledge graph. The Eighth Rank published a separate article detailing a thought experiment about how your personal knowledge graph could be weaponized against you and it's disturbing, to say the least.

The fact that this information is stored locally on your Apple devices offers some comfort. At least, we don't have any evidence this info is being transmitted or accessed from outside of your device. Someone would likely need to have physical access to your device and be able to get past some significant security layers to even access the necessary files.

But still. I'm leaning towards not liking this, and I have questions.

Is this Personal Knowledge Graph created only when you have Apple Intelligence enabled, or is it created regardless?

If you disable Apple Intelligence, is your Personal Knowledge Graph deleted?

Until I understand more about how this works, I'll disable Apple Intelligence on all my Apple devices. And perhaps seriously reconsider a move to more free and open tech.

Discuss...

#100DaysToOffload (No. 198) #tech #Apple #privacy #security #AI