iOS users are calling out Apple’s new AI-powered Journal app for fears it is misusing people’s private thoughts, emotions and experiences.
The iPhone-specific app was released in Apple’s new iOS 17.2 update and prompts users to write about their lives to ‘reflect and practice gratitude,’ according to the Cupertino company.
However, tech experts have pointed out that the app’s default settings make your phone discoverable by nearby devices, not just when you use it.
On top of that, the app deploys machine learning on each user’s device.
The Journal app exploits users’ photos, workout data, recent music listening history, and even location data to craft so-called journal entries that are mostly complete before the phone’s owner even enters a single word.
These capabilities have sparked privacy concerns and fears over the data that may be shared without people’s knowledge.
Some have also noted the new app’s similarity to Google’s ‘Project Ellmann,’ which uses the company’s ChatGPT rival Gemini to comb through users’ data and craft an overarching story of your life.
Apple’s new Journal app is a multimedia diary, which lets users upload photos, music, audio recordings, and other items
DailyMail.com has reached out to Apple for comment.
Upon the launch of the iOS 17.2 update, which included Journaling Suggestions, many news outlets covered the update uncritically as simply a new feature.
But Ruby Media Group CEO Kristen Ruby shared skepticism on X: ‘I can’t believe no one thinks this Apple Journal is a big deal. Forget ChatGPT. This is on-device machine learning. From your LIFE. Hello, wake up.’
Big tech critic Kristen Ruby wrote on X about how the new suggestions feature can change the nature of journaling by inserting an AI between you and your journal
The button to turn on Journaling Suggestions is large compared to the buttons that allow users to limit their access to personal data, read about its privacy terms, or skip it altogether
The tech expert also reflected on how AI-generated prompts change the nature of journaling and self-reflection by inserting machine learning between a person’s brain and their pen.
‘AI will prompt you with what to write based on reviewing your digital history on your device,’ Ruby wrote.
‘The sacred bond between pen and paper and your brain no longer exists when there is another entity involved. This forever changes the concept of self-reflection when AI is prompting you on what to reflect on.’
She also highlighted the similarity between Journaling Suggestions and Google’s secretive ‘Project Ellmann.’
Apple’s new Journal app inserts artificial intelligence between the iPhone user and their personal reflections
‘I am so freaked out by the new Apple Journaling feature,’ Ruby shared.
According to confidential documents from an internal Google summit, leaked earlier this month, the company has plans to build an AI that becomes users’ ‘Life Story Teller’ – using unprecedented access to their data.
‘We trawl through your photos, looking at their tags and locations to identify a meaningful moment,’ according to a presentation slide.
‘When we step back and understand your life in its entirety,’ the slide continued, ‘your overarching story becomes clear.’
With Apple’s new app, it appears that the company could be working on something similar – or has already shipped it.
Tech reporter Chris Smith of BGR also found privacy issues with the Journaling app, noting that the feature means iPhones can detect other nearby devices ‘to potentially use that information in journaling suggestions.’
‘Journaling Suggestions uses Bluetooth to detect the number of devices and contacts around you without storing which of these specific contacts were around. This information is used to improve and prioritize your suggestions. It is stored on device, and is not shared with Apple,’ reads the app’s fine print.
The new Journaling Suggestions feature in Apple’s iOS 17.2 update uses access to your phone’s apps to prompt reflection on certain topics
What personal information does Journaling Suggestions collect?
The first time you open Journal after updating to iOS 17.2, a screen introduces ‘Journaling Suggestions.
‘iPhone uses on-device intelligence to create journaling suggestions based on your everyday moments,’ it reads.
‘Suggestions can help you reflect on topics you might want to write about, such as places you go and photos you take,’ it continues. ‘Journal apps can only access your data if it is included in a suggestion that you write about or save.’
A large button prompts users to ‘Turn On Journaling Suggestions,’ while a much smaller text set offers the opportunity to ‘Customize Suggestions.’
This latter button opens up a menu that shows exactly what kinds of data Journaling Suggestions may have access to: Activity, meaning your workouts and exercise; Media, including podcasts and music you listen to; Contacts you message and call; Photos, including your library, memories, and shared photos; and Significant Locations – the places you spend time.
There is also a long statement on privacy that users can access, which explains that Journaling Suggestions uses data on your device to group moments and events.
Journaling Suggestions uses not just your photos, music, and workout data, but also the devices nearby. Apple has not replied to questions about exactly what data this feature shares and collects
The privacy terms explain that Journaling Suggestions uses Bluetooth to detect how many devices are nearby, but it says it only detects the number of devices and does not store information on who they are.
The app automatically enables the location-sharing feature if you turn on Journaling Suggestions.
It does not clarify what information is shared between devices, nor does it clarify what data do get stored. DailyMail.com has asked the company for clarification on these points.
How to keep the Journal app from accessing your data
If you, as many people do, simply accepted the Journal app’s request to access your data, you can turn it off at any time and clear the data it has already collected.
The steps are simple:
- Open ‘Settings’
- Scroll down to ‘Privacy & Security’ and tap on it
- Scroll down and open ‘Journaling Suggestions’
- Select each option and turn them on or off with the switch on the right
- To clear the data the app has collected, tap ‘Clear History’ and confirm the choice when prompted
- To disable location-sharing, turn off the switch labeled ‘Discoverable by Others’
By Daily Mail Online, December 14, 2023
