TL;DR
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Apple is rumored to be secretly working on an AI chatbot to rival ChatGPT. Will blockchain be the next integration? Here it fits: Zero Knowledge Proofs.
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Apple integrated ZkProofs would allow users to:
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Upload identity information/documents to a secure Apple server → Apple verifies it and removes it from its servers → every time a website requests that information, Apple vouch for you using a ZkProof
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(Telling the site that you submitted verified info/docs – without getting that site dirty). It would take privacy and security to the next level on iPhone!
Full story
ICYMI: Last Friday, we made our best guess of what technologies will define the third generation of the web.
It went something like this:
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Blockchain (as infrastructure)
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AI (driving software and platforms)
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Augmented/Virtual Reality (as computer 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 getting usable!
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We have the Vision Pro on the way, next up is AI Siri…that means blockchain is the last piece of the Web3 puzzle for Apple.
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Apple embraces blockchain? That’s cute. It will never happen.
But then something clicked…
One form of blockchain technology plays right into Apple’s commitment to privacy, specifically:
Zero Knowledge Proofs (or “ZkProofs,” if you’re nasty).
Here they would fit:
You know how some websites legally require you to provide a bunch of information to use their services?
(Think: banks, trading platforms, crypto exchanges – things like that)
This ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC) process often requires you to provide your name, email address, phone number, date of birth, address, 1-2 IDs and may also include more sensitive information such as social security numbers.
In other words: everything someone needs to steal your identity.
The problem is that the more you spread this information → the more databases it contains → the more likely your information will be leaked/hacked one day.
Apple integrating ZkProofs could work something like this:
You upload your info/docs to a secure Apple server → Apple verifies it and removes it from its servers → every time a website asks for that info, Apple “vouches” for you using a ZkProof → tells the site that you submitted verified info/docs (without that site doing anything).
Is this concept as sexy as 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 stone to Apple’s “walled garden”).