Apple is currently at a crossroads regarding the BlueMail email application, which has recently integrated ChatGPT functions. Something that goes against the company's policies in relation to the use of applications with AI, and for which they have decided to restrict the latest update of the app to those over 17 years of age.
Blix Inc., who is the developer of the application, used the OpenAI GPT-3 language model in its latest version of BlueMail.. This allows the app to have artificial intelligence chatbot functions.
The concern of the Apple App Store review team is that AI-powered language tools may generate inappropriate content for children. For this reason, they are calling for the app to increase its age restriction to 17, or at least include content filtering.
The current age restriction for BlueMail is 4 years and what worries its developer is that the new restriction makes users who encounter it hesitate to use it. Well, commonly, the restrictions for people over 17 years of age in the App Store are aimed at applications with offensive, sexual or drug-related content.
Other apps have the same restriction
BlueMail wasn't the only app that had trouble updating. Microsoft, which also recently implemented ChatGPT capabilities in its Bing search engine, ran into the same roadblock when trying to update its mobile apps with AI.
Although Apple is not competing in the artificial intelligence race, the App Store is full of apps posing as ChatGPT alternatives. A specific case is that of the ChatGPT Chat GPT IA application that uses GPT-3, and that even demanded a payment before OpenIA opened its Premium subscription section.
The app managed to stay active for 3 weeks until it got media attention as a fake app that jacked up the price. It was so popular that it accumulated a score of 4.6 out of 5 and more than 13,000 reviews..
The question of many is, How do I get this app past Apple's review process? There's no answer yet, but chances are many on the App Store review team are now paying the price for this bug.