To stand out from the competition, the BlueMail messaging tool offers the user to generate emails for him, thanks to artificial intelligence (AI). In its latest update, BlueMail introduced ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence capable of generating text on demand. But Apple blocked this new version in its app store, believing that the chatbot could display inappropriate content. The publisher of the App Store is asking the app to raise the age of use to 17, reports the Wall Street Journal.
For Apple devices, the BlueMail app must revise the access age, currently set at 4 years, or include a means of content filtering. “Your application contains content generated by AI, but it does not appear, for the moment, to include tools to filter content,” Apple judged in a message addressed to BlueMail and consulted by the US media.
Apple’s age restriction of 17+ is for apps that may contain offensive material or explicit content. However, on Google Play, the app is listed as accessible to “all audiences.”
This decision illustrates the difficulties of generalizing AI all the time. And that does not please Ben Volach, co-founder of Blix, responsible for the development of BlueMail at all. “Apple complicates the possibility of bringing innovation to our users,” he estimates with the Wall Street Journal. According to him, other applications that use AI are not subject to these restrictions.
Longstanding litigation
Developer Blix challenged the decision, which is under review by Apple. For Ben Volach, the application already has content filters. According to BlueMail, Apple’s rejection comes a week after the app submitted its update for review.
This isn’t the first time BlueMail and Apple have had a dispute. In 2019, Apple released Sign in with Apple, a feature that allows users to sign in to an app without giving out personal information like an email address. Except that developer Blix had patented a similar option not long before.
Soon after, Apple removed BlueMail from its app store, saying it had security issues. Which led Blix to file a lawsuit against Apple. The judge considered that Blix did not present evidence of Apple’s monopolistic and anti-competitive behavior.
Microsoft’s search engine Bing, which recently included ChatGPT in its interface, has an age restriction of 17 on the App Store, but this predates the update.
Source: BFM TV
