AI incident #270 ·
Apple Tweaked App Store Ranking Algorithms, Allegedly Resulted in Demotion of Local Apps in China
What happened
Following Apple’s changes in ranking algorithm in its iTunes App Store, apps by allegedly reputable companies and local startups in China experienced significant drops in ranking order.
Only the incident metadata is stored here. The underlying news reports are on the AI Incident Database (CC BY-SA 4.0); use the links above to read them.
News reports (1)
Coverage catalogued by the AI Incident Database. Titles link to the original publisher; the text is not reproduced here.
Who was involved
Classification (MIT AI Risk Repository taxonomy)
- Risk domain
- Socioeconomic & Environmental Harms
- Risk subdomain
- 6.4 Competitive dynamics
- Causal entity
- AI
- Intent
- Intentional
- Timing
- Post-deployment
- Harm level
- —
- Sectors
- —
- Countries
- —
Risk entries describing this failure mode
Entries from the MIT AI Risk Repository coded to subdomain 6.4.
- Increased competition
"Increased competition - The inappropriate or unethical use of technology to gain market share."
- Geopolitical risk
"As AI is increasingly seen as a powerful technology, countries are racing to develop it ahead of their geopolitical rivals, a competition that could lead to geopolitical tensions [138], [139]... The emphasis of this ris...
- Worsened conflict
"Cooperation and conflict: we’re seeing more focus and investment on the kinds of AI capabilities that make conflict more likely and severe, rather than those likely to improve cooperation. So, on our current trajectory,...
- Resource conflicts driven by AI development
"AI development may itself become a new flash point for conflicts—causing more conflict to occur— especially conflicts over AI-relevant resources (such as data centres, semiconductor manufacturing facilities and raw mate...
- Type 4: Willful indifference
As a side effect of a primary goal like profit or influence, AI creators can willfully allow it to cause widespread societal harms like pollution, resource depletion, mental illness, misinformation, or injustice.
- Competitive pressures in GPAI product release
"In competitive situations, developers of general-purpose AI systems might cut corners on the safety evaluation of their GPAI model and instead spend more time and effort on the capabilities of those systems [183, 69]. T...
- Opacity (industry opacity)
"Opacity is not solely due to the technological complexity that limits developers’ and users’ understanding of how generative models function on a technical level. It is further exacerbated by the practices of organizati...
- Corporate AI Race
"Although competition between companies can be beneficial, creating more useful products for consumers, there are also pitfalls. First, the benefits of economic activity may be unevenly distributed, incentivizing those w...
Incidents in the same risk subdomain
- Korean Internet Portal Giant Naver Manipulated Shopping and Video Search Algorithms to Favor In-House Services
- Inefficiencies in the United States Resident Matching Program
Other incidents involving Apple
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- Apple Intelligence Reportedly Notified Users That Luigi Mangione Shot Himself and Benjamin Netanyahu Had Been Arrested
- Apple Intelligence Allegedly Flags Scam Messages as High Priority
- Apple Devices Mistook Skiing Activities, Dialed False Distress Emergency Calls
- Robbers Accessed Drugged Gay Men's Bank Accounts Using Their Phones' Facial Recognition
- Apple’s AVs Reportedly Struggled to Navigate Streets in Silicon Valley Test Drives