Apple may not have made an Apple Intelligence public chatbot like ChatGPT yet, but it's now added one to its internal sales support app.

Part of the reason Apple is erroneously considered behind the rest of the AI industry is that it hasn't released a hallucinating chatbot like ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, or the rest. But following the development of such a chatbot to help support staff, Apple is now reported to be rolling out one for its sales teams.

According to Aaron from MacRumors, a new AI chatbot has been added to SEED, Apple's in-house "Sales Enablement, Education, and Development" iPhone app.

The chatbot is reportedly called "Asa," which is said to stand for "AI Assistant for Apple Sales." Many users commenting on the original tweet note that they are SEED members and do not have this functionality, though.

It's not clear, then, whether this is simply rolling out slowly to all SEED users. Or it may yet be a trial, although it is presumably intended to be provided to all sales staff when ready.

Smartphone displaying a digital assistant interface with options to ask questions and explore features like Discover, Compare, and Create.

How the SEED app looks with a chatbot — image credit: Aaron

Apple has resisted releasing a chatbot publicly, primarily because of the continued risk of hallucinations. A chatbot that is solely confined to either sales tips about Apple, or support details about Apple products, is presumably far less likely to provide the wrong answers.

It's previously been reported, however, that it was former Siri chief John Giannandrea who was against developing a public chatbot. His reassignment away from leading Siri, may mean that other executives will press for one, however.

Also, while there is officially no public Apple chatbot, it is possible for users to effectively create one. The addition of the "Use Model" action Shortcuts enables users to send prompts directly to ChatGPT, for instance.