Apple’s push to bring Apple Intelligence to China continues

Apple Intelligence imagery on iPhone, Mac, and iPad.
Apple is advancing its efforts to launch Apple Intelligence in China by partnering with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Baidu Inc. to integrate its AI platform in the country.
Mark Gurman for Bloomberg News:
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The idea is to use Alibaba as a “censorship engine” that can rein in Apple’s on-device AI models at the behest of the Chinese government (a requirement for any launch in the region). Baidu, meanwhile, will take the role that OpenAI and Google hold in the US, helping power the Siri chatbot and things like Visual Intelligence.
A launch was initially planned for the middle of the year as part of an update to iOS 18. But it’s hit snags related to Chinese regulations — as well as concerns from US government officials about the plan. Apple hasn’t given up, though. The company still has teams hard at work on bringing Apple Intelligence to China. It’s too big a market to ignore, and Apple risks seeing local rivals lure away customers with their own AI features.
While it’s certainly plausible that a release could get delayed again, the plan right now is to launch the functionality before the end of the year — with the software included in iOS 26.1 or iOS 26.2. The company is actively testing the features with employees in China, I’m told, and continues to work with Alibaba and other providers on the rollout. Keep in mind that Apple sees this as a critical selling point for the iPhone 17.

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MacDailyNews Take: Who doesn’t love a nice “censorship engine?”
Apple Intelligence in China will be highly censored and rather limited; it will only spit back the approved narratives of the Chinese Communist Party. – MacDailyNews, November 26, 2024
“Censorship reflects a society’s lack of confidence in itself.” — Potter Stewart
Read more: Apple Intelligence likely to be highly censored in China, if it ever launches – November 26, 2024

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