Apple Prepares App Store for Autonomous AI Agents

Apple is exploring ways to allow developers to offer artificial intelligence (AI) agents into its App Store while maintaining its regulations designed to prevent the spread of malware and other wrongdoing, The Information reported Wednesday (May 13), citing unnamed sources.

Currently, the company bans vibe coding tools from the App Store, but there is a growing supply of, and demand for, those and other sorts of AI agents, according to the report.

Apple staffers are designing a system that would allow AI agents to be offered in the App Store while adhering to the company’s privacy and security standards, the reports said.

The company’s annual Worldwide Developers Conference that will be held in June is expected to highlight AI offerings, but it is not known if any addition of AI agents to the App Store will be announced at the event, per the report.

Apple did not immediately reply to PYMNTS’ request for comment.

It was reported in March that Apple is centering its AI plans on the App Store and hardware.

According to that report, after getting caught off guard by ChatGPT and losing AI talent to rivals, Apple’s potential path to success resembles that of the one it chose for its App Store. In that strategy, the company offers in-house apps but still lets customers install third-party versions for a percentage of the revenue.

It was reported May 5 that Apple plans to offer third-party AI models alongside its own in-house models as part of the company’s strategy to turn its devices into AI platforms by making it easy for users to access the options they want.

With this offering, users of the company’s software will be able to choose the model they want to use for tasks such as generating and editing text and images.

This report, which cited unnamed sources, said Apple plans to include this change in its operating systems that are set for release this fall, including iOS 27, iPadOS 27 and macOS 27.

PYMNTS reported Thursday (May 7) that the smartphone is becoming the device people carry to access AI and that the companies that understand this are racing to control that device.

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