Your app includes AI-generated content but does not appear to include content filtering at this time.
In February 2023, Blix submitted a BlueMail update with AI-powered writing tools built on OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The feature helps automate writing emails using the contents of earlier emails and calendar events. At the time, BlueMail was rated for ages 4 and up.
Apple rejected the update in the last week of February, a week after it was submitted. During that week, App Review used a test version of the app every day. According to documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, Apple asked Blix to either add content filtering or raise BlueMail’s age rating to 17 and up, because the app could produce content not appropriate for all audiences. Apple’s 17+ rating is meant for apps that may include anything from offensive language to sexual content and references to drugs.
Our response
Ben Volach, Blix’s co-founder, told the Journal that BlueMail already has content filtering, and that a 17+ rating would limit the app’s reach to new users. He pointed out that many other apps on the App Store that advertise ChatGPT-like features carry no such age restriction, and that the same update to BlueMail for Android was approved on Google Play without any request for an age restriction or more filtering. He called Apple’s treatment unfair and discriminatory.
“We want fairness. If we’re required to be 17-plus, then others should also have to.”
Ben Volach, Blix co-founder, to The Wall Street Journal, March 2, 2023
Apple’s position
An Apple spokesperson said developers can challenge a rejection through the App Review Board, and that Apple was investigating Blix’s complaint.
As CNBC noted, Apple’s App Store Review Guidelines had no formal policy on AI or chatbots at the time.
The outcome
On the evening of March 2, 2023 – the same day The Wall Street Journal’s story ran – Apple approved the BlueMail update without changes. BlueMail kept its 4+ age rating.
According to the Journal’s follow-up, Blix told Apple the update already includes content moderation, and suggested that Apple make public any new policies on the use of ChatGPT or similar AI systems in apps. As of the Journal’s report, Apple had issued no formal App Store guidelines on generative AI.
As in 2020, the update went through once the story was public.
The coverage
The Wall Street Journal broke the story on March 2, 2023. Within days it was covered around the world.
- The Wall Street Journal Apple approves ChatGPT-powered app after assurance of content moderation. Aaron Tilley, March 3, 2023.
- The Wall Street Journal Apple blocks update of ChatGPT-powered app, as concerns grow over AI’s potential harm. Aaron Tilley, March 2, 2023.
- Reuters Apple blocks update to email app with ChatGPT tech – WSJ. March 2, 2023.
- CNBC Apple crackdown on ChatGPT apps unlikely, but it could impose new rules down the road. March 3, 2023.
- WIRED Apple reins in ChatGPT-powered apps. March 4, 2023.
- PCMag Apple blocks ChatGPT-powered feature planned for iOS app BlueMail. March 2023.
- Business Standard Apple blocks email app BlueMail that uses ChatGPT technology; know why here. March 3, 2023.
- CNBC-TV18 Apple blocks update to email app with ChatGPT tech: Wall Street Journal. March 2, 2023.
Watch on YouTube: CNBC Television, “Apple pushing back on A.I. with BlueMail app update block”