TL;DR
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There’re whispers that Apple is secretly working on an AI chatbot to rival ChatGPT, will blockchain be the next integration? Here’s where it fits: Zero Knowledge Proofs.
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Apple integrated ZkProofs would allow users to do the following:
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Upload identity info/docs to a secure Apple server → Apple verifies it and deletes it from its severs → every time a website asks for that info, Apple ‘vouches’ for you using a ZkProof
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(Telling the site that you’ve submitted verified info/docs – without that site getting its dirty mitts on it all). It would take privacy and security to the next level on iPhone!
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ICYMI: last Friday, we laid out our best guess at which technologies will define the third generation of the web.
It went a little something like this:
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Blockchain (as infrastructure)
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AI (powering software and platforms)
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Augmented/Virtual Reality (as a computing medium)
So when we heard whispers that Apple is secretly working on an AI chatbot to rival ChatGPT, we had three thoughts:
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Thank the lord in heaven, Siri is FINALLY going to become usable!
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We’ve got the Vision Pro on the way, next is AI Siri…that means blockchain is the final piece of the Web3 puzzle for Apple.
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Apple embracing blockchain? That’s cute. It’ll never happen.
But then something clicked…
A certain form of blockchain tech plays right in to Apple’s push for privacy, specifically:
Zero Knowledge Proofs (or ‘ZkProofs,’ if you’re nasty).
Here’s where they would fit:
You know how some websites will legally require you to give over a bunch of information in order to use their services?
(Think: banks, trading platforms, crypto exchanges – that sort of thing)
This ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) process often requires you to submit your name, email, phone number, date of birth, address, 1-2 forms of ID, and can also include more sensitive information like social security numbers.
Aka: everything someone needs to steal your identity.
The problem is, the more you give this info out → the more databases it lives on → the higher the chances your info will some day be leaked/hacked.
Apple integrating ZkProofs might work something like this:
You upload your info/docs to a secure Apple server → Apple verifies it and deletes it from its severs → every time a website asks for that info, Apple ‘vouches’ for you using a ZkProof → telling the site that you’ve submitted verified info/docs (without that site getting its dirty mitts on it all).
Is this concept sexy like the Vision Pro? No.
Flashy, like the proposed AI-supercharged Siri? Absolutely not.
But it would take privacy and security to the next level on iPhone!
(And add another brick in Apple’s ‘walled garden’).
