Apple don tighten its App Store rules, and some AI developers fit need to start updating their CVs. The company don declare war on apps wey use artificial intelligence to create offensive content, especially those wey dey pretend to be innocent apps before revealing their real mission.
You know those people wey go wear suit enter church, only for everybody to discover say na dem carry the speaker and disappear? Apparently, some apps dey use similar strategy.
Dem go submit one normal-looking app to Apple for approval. Apple go review am, approve am, and allow am enter App Store. Then, somehow, the app fit introduce features wey turn am into a nudify app — software wey uses AI to create fake nude images of people.
In simple English, the app go wear innocent face for interview, collect the job, then resume work as something completely different.
Apple don tire for the drama.
Wetin Apple Don Change?
The company don update its developer guidelines to make its position on AI-generated offensive content and user-generated content clearer.
User-generated content na anything users themselves create and upload, like pictures, videos, comments and posts.
Under the updated rules, apps wey allow users to upload content must have systems to filter objectionable material. Dem must also allow users to report offensive content and block abusive accounts.
Translation: if your app na online gathering where everybody fit post anything, you no fit just open the gate, disappear, and tell everybody to behave themselves.
You must put measures in place to control the wahala.
Apple also specifically warned against apps with hidden or undocumented features. If you submit one version of your app for review, then secretly add harmful features after approval, Apple fit remove am.
The company no wan hear story like, “Oga, na software update cause am.”
According to Apple, apps must not misrepresent their purpose during review and reveal harmful capabilities after approval.
So, if your app claims to be a calculator but later starts calculating how to generate fake nude pictures, you may have a serious problem.
And no, changing the app icon to a smiling calculator no go magically make the issue disappear.
Apple Don Bring Out Its Digital Police Uniform
The company also strengthened its rules around human trafficking and the exploitation of children.
This one no be cruise matter. Apple says apps promoting these activities will not be allowed on its platform.
The updated guidelines put more pressure on developers to prevent abuse instead of waiting until people don report the problem.
Apple also revealed the scale of its existing enforcement efforts. Last year, its review process blocked more than 150,000 apps from reaching users and removed 193,000 developer accounts because of fraud and abuse.
Those numbers show say App Store approval no be ordinary rubber stamp. Developers fit spend weeks building an app, only for Apple to tell them, “Thank you for your effort, but this one no dey enter.”
The Nudify Wahala Don Reach Government Level
Apple no dey fight this battle alone.
In July, San Francisco ordered Apple and Google to clean up their app stores by removing nudification apps.
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu accused the companies of profiting from these apps through the fees they collect from app developers.
Before that, a report published in April by the Tech Transparency Project indicated that both companies’ app stores hosted multiple nudify apps. Some of those apps reportedly carried age ratings that made them appear suitable for minors.
Read that again.
Apps wey fit create fake nude images reportedly appeared on platforms where some of them were rated as appropriate for young users.
Na exactly the kind of situation wey makes people ask whether app-store moderation dey work as well as e suppose.
The issue also raises a bigger question: who should take responsibility when AI tools are used to create harmful images — the developer, the platform distributing the app, or both?
Wetin This Means for AI Developers
Apple’s move sends one clear message: AI innovation no be free pass to create harmful products.
If developers want their apps to remain on the App Store, dem need to think about safety from the beginning. Content moderation, user reporting, account blocking and honest app descriptions should not be afterthoughts.
For founders building AI products, this matters because getting users to download your app is only one part of the business. Keeping the app compliant with platform rules is another.
And for ordinary users, the warning is simple: AI-generated images are not always real. Fake images can still damage real people’s reputations, relationships and safety.
The next thing to watch na how Apple and Google enforce these rules, whether more apps disappear from their stores, and whether other platforms introduce similar restrictions.
Because apparently, even in the world of artificial intelligence, some developers still believe say the best way to pass an interview na to hide their real CV.
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