Apple’s artificial intelligence features may not be available for millions of its European Union customers this year, due to concerns with the bloc’s digital markets rules.
The company said Friday that it does “not believe” it will roll out Apple Intelligence, iPhone Mirroring, and SharePlay Screen Sharing to EU users this year, because of the “regulatory uncertainties brought about by the Digital Markets Act (DMA).”
The DMA regulates large digital platforms to ensure fairness and competition in the EU market. Under the DMA, “gatekeepers,” or large platforms offering digital services, have “do’s” and “don’ts” to comply with, including not being allowed to use collected data from third-parties to compete with them. Apple said compliance with the DMA would impact privacy and security.
“Specifically, we are concerned that the interoperability requirements of the DMA could force us to compromise the integrity of our products in ways that risk user privacy and data security,” an Apple spokesperson said in a statement shared with Quartz. “We are committed to collaborating with the European Commission in an attempt to find a solution that would enable us to deliver these features to our EU customers without compromising their safety.”
Elsewhere, Apple Intelligence will be available later this summer for beta testers who have their Siri language set to U.S. English.
Meanwhile, Apple is reportedly looking for a partner in China to help it roll out AI features in its second-largest iPhone market. OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which Apple is integrating into its newest iPhone, iPad, and Mac operating systems, is not available in China along with other AI models developed outside the country.
Apple has reportedly discussed deals with Chinese AI developers, including Baidu — which built China’s version of ChatGPT called Ernie Bot — Alibaba, and Beijing-based startup Baichuan AI. The Cyberspace Administration of China requires AI models undergo a “security assessment” before being released to the public, and content generated by chatbots should “reflect the core values of socialism, and must not contain subversion of state power.” As of March, the CAC has approved 117 generative AI models, but none were developed outside of China, the Wall Street Journal reported.