The warning was included in the iPhone maker’s latest annual 10-K filing, released a day after the company reported its fourth-quarter financial results. Apple has expanded its warnings about the risks of artificial intelligence, cautioning that autonomous AI agents could access systems without authorisation, send communications, execute transactions and behave in unpredictable ways that may threaten businesses and users, as reported by Fortune.
It said AI agents and similar technologies can act on their own: interacting with internal or external systems they may not be authorised to access, executing or altering code, sending communications and completing transactions. Such tools, Apple said, may behave in unintended or unpredictable ways.
The company added that research and development spending rose 32% year-over-year, driven in part by higher infrastructure costs and continued AI investments. Microsoft has announced controls to detect, monitor and restrict AI agents, including cutting their permissions or stopping them if they act suspiciously.
Autonomous AI systems may “conceal actions, hide, withhold or manipulate information, or generate inaccurate or deceptive outputs, according to Apple. The company said growing demand for cloud computing, storage and AI infrastructure is creating supply constraints, longer lead times and rising costs. The company raised concerns that rogue AI agents could conceal their activities or manipulate information. CEO Satya Nadella has argued that companies should treat agents as potential insider risks and build security controls outside the AI model. Beyond AI safety concerns, Apple’s filing also highlighted challenges related to its AI ambitions. Apple noted that shortages of memory and storage components are expected to intensify and could affect its AI rollout plans.