Apple @ Work: Apple’s bet on local AI was right, but our management tools will need to evolve

Apple @ Work is brought to you only by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that combines in one place professional-grade all the solutions needed to seamlessly and automatically use, manage and protect Apple devices in the workplace. More than 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work effortlessly and affordably. Ask for your EXTRA TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.

Over the past decade, the technology industry has been obsessed with the cloud. The assumption was that the future of AI would once again rely on massive data centers, infinite GPUs, and always-on Internet connections. However, Apple took a different approach. With Apple Silicon, they are betting that the most important processing will happen locally in the Neural Engine. I believe Apple has made an incredibly important decision.

About Apple @ Work: Bradley Chambers managed the company’s IT network from 2009 to 2021. With his experience in deploying and managing firewalls, switches, mobile device management system, enterprise-grade Wi-Fi, 1000’s of Macs, and 1000’s of iPads, Bradley will highlight the ways Apple IT managers deploy, IT users deploy IT users supporting Apple devices, train Apple management methods. Apple can improve its products for IT departments.

According to a report from 1Password, Apple was right. The report says that “local agents will win” because the most important agents will not live on the resellers’ servers. They will work locally, using your context, data, and information. While this is a victory for Apple’s hardware team, it does bring a new potential headache for those of us who own these devices, however. The report clearly warns that our current tools are inadequate, noting that 75% of CISOs believe they need additional tools beyond basic device management.

The danger of confirmation

To understand why traditional management tools will be difficult in the next era, we must examine how AI is developing. We are moving from the era of “Chatbots” that predict text to “Agents” that perform action. The chatbot writes the email for you, but the agent actually sends it. This is what we see with tools like OpenClaw.

Nancy Wang, SVP of Engineering at 1Password, argues that we are entering a phase where “evidence is the new computer.” In this new world, bottlenecks and security struggles will not be about processing power; will be about consent. All meaningful AI capabilities depend on API keys, OAuth tokens, and service accounts.

For Mac owners, this is a complete game changer. We don’t just protect the human user with their Macs and iPhones. We will be securing an army of AI digital agents working for that user to get the job done. If a local agent on a Mac can access a user’s email and calendar to improve their system, how do we do it confirm and doesn’t have permission to send that data to an unknown bad actor? An agent needs information to do their job, but that assurance is now a high target for fraudsters.

Where device management does not reach

This is where the “Access Trust Gap” comes into play. We’ve spent years building management workflows based on device management services, which are basically a device configuration and monitoring tool. It installs apps, uses encryption, and configures Wi-Fi. It’s great for setting up a baseline, but it’s rarely built for real-time risk assessment.

If local AI agents are the future for macOS, our management strategy must shift from “configuration” to “trust.” We need tools that not only check that FileVault is enabled but also verify the identity of the agent trying to access the data. The team at 1Password advocates an “Extended Access Control” approach that verifies a device’s location in real-time before granting access to critical infrastructure.

Finish it

For an Apple executive, this means the days of “set it and forget it” are over. We need visibility into what these local models are doing. We need to know which browser extensions are reading the screen content. We need to bridge the gap between our identity providers and our endpoint managers to ensure that the “managed” device is actually “trusted”.

Apple rightly predicted that the future of AI would run on silicon, not just in the cloud. That bet paid off with devices that are uniquely capable of using powerful local agents.

Apple @ Work is brought to you only by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that combines in one place professional-grade all the solutions needed to seamlessly and automatically use, manage and protect Apple devices in the workplace. More than 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work effortlessly and affordably. Ask for your EXTRA TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.