Apple's Bug Bounty Program: Inviting Researchers to Validate Privacy Claims on Intelligence Features

Apple is encouraging investigations into its Private Cloud Compute (PCC) system, which supports advanced Apple Intelligence requests. The company is also enhancing its bug bounty program, offering rewards of up to $1,000,000 for discovering PCC vulnerabilities. Apple emphasizes that many of its AI capabilities, branded as Apple Intelligence, will operate directly on devices like Macs and iPhones, ensuring user privacy.

For complex requests, however, data will be processed on PCC servers built with Apple Silicon and a new operating system. Unlike other companies whose AI applications depend on remote servers—often lacking transparency in security—Apple prioritizes user privacy. The PCC is designed to uphold Apple's security and privacy commitments, allowing independent verification by security researchers.

To support these efforts, Apple provides:

- A security guide detailing the technical aspects of PCC.

- A "Virtual Research Environment" enabling security analyses on Macs equipped with Apple Silicon, at least 16GB of RAM, and the latest macOS Sequoia 15.1 Developer Preview.

- Source code on GitHub for key PCC components that implement its security and privacy standards.

The bug bounty program encompasses rewards ranging from $50,000 to $1,000,000 for vulnerabilities across various categories. Apple's assessment will consider any significant security issue for potential rewards.

The first Apple Intelligence features are set to release with iOS 18.1, anticipated next week. Notably, enhanced features such as Genmoji and ChatGPT integration were included in the first iOS 18.2 developer beta released recently.