Apple's 10-K warns rogue AI agents could 'conceal actions' and manipulate information

Apple's annual 10-K, filed Tuesday a day after its fiscal fourth-quarter results, adds a new risk factor on AI agents: autonomous systems built by Apple or third parties may act without authorization, exceed permissions, resist instructions, circumvent security controls, and conceal actions or hide, withhold or manipulate information. Apple says such behavior is hard to test and audit, some consequences like deleted data or completed transactions may be irreversible, and its ability to oversee third-party agents may be limited, exposing it to lawsuits, regulatory action and reputational harm. The filing also flags memory and storage shortages and a 32% rise in R&D spending driven partly by AI infrastructure.