Apple is working with regulators to bring Apple Intelligence to China and the EU. Apple’s CEO Tim Cook revealed this in response to an investor’s question during the company’s Q3 earnings call.
Cook said the company aims to “move as fast we can” to bring Apple Intelligence features to everyone.
A few weeks after WWDC24, Apple revealed it would not bring Apple Intelligence to the EU. Non-AI features like iPhone Mirroring and SharePlay Screen Sharing enhancements also won’t be available there. The company blamed the EU’s Digital Markets Act for its decision.
The European Union’s competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, slammed Apple’s decision. She called it a way for the company to disable competition “where they have a stronghold already.”
Tim Cook addressed Apple Intelligence’s absence in the EU and China during Apple’s Q3 earnings call. He mentioned that Apple is actively working with regulatory bodies to introduce its suite of AI features to iPhone users in the respective countries.
However, they “have to understand the regulatory requirements before we can commit to doing that and commit a schedule to doing that, but we’re very constructively engaged with both.”
In China, Apple has not yet found a partner to power its suite of AI features. Chinese regulations stipulate companies to process all user data on local servers. In the US, the company has partnered with OpenAI and ChatGPT in addition to using its own LLM models.
Apple Intelligence will gain support for more languages
Apple released Apple Intelligence in beta with the first iOS 18.1 developer beta. Right now, to use Apple Intelligence, you must set your iPhone’s language and region to English and US.
During the earnings call, 9to5Mac reports Tim Cook confirmed the company will add support for more features and languages to Apple Intelligence “across the next year.”
Apple will not launch Apple Intelligence with the initial iOS 18 release. Instead, many of the AI features will debut with iOS 18.1 a few weeks later. Even then, the smarter Siri might not launch until spring 2025.
