Apple Intelligence in China: Will Apple allow other language models on iPhone?

In order to offer AI functions on iPhones in the important Chinese market, Apple has reportedly entered into a partnership with its local Google counterpart Baidu. As in the EU, Apple Intelligence is not yet available in China, where the relevant approval is apparently lacking. Developers from Apple and Baidu are working hard to adapt Baidu's language models for the iPhone, reports The Information, citing informed sources.

What insight does Ernie Bot get?

The partnership seems to go far beyond Apple's ChatGPT integration in Apple Intelligence: Baidu's Ernie 4 voice model should be available both locally on the iPhone and in the cloud, the report says. According to the report, Ernie has so far performed poorly, the language model does not understand commands correctly and does not provide suitable answers for common iPhone application scenarios, writes The Information.

Apple had to make a similarly serious compromise with iCloud data and work with local providers to store data from Chinese iCloud accounts. Since 2022, it has been possible to protect most iCloud data with end-to-end encryption.

In other regions, only Apple's own language models are allowed to work at operating system level, as this provides a deeper insight into the user's communication: the AI already summarizes all messages and emails and will also be able to search through personal data stored in various apps in the future.

ChatGPT is also integrated from iOS 18.2, but the user must agree to the forwarding of data or explicitly trigger it. Apple and OpenAI also promise that the data will not be used for training purposes. What's more, no account is required for ChatGPT, and the IP address is also to be concealed when requests are made.

Baidu allegedly interested in iPhone data

According to the report, Baidu also wants to use user data for training and the further development of its language models, but has come into conflict with Apple. It is not yet clear if and when Apple Intelligence will come to China. There is now a launch date for the EU - April 2025.

Apple's AI package is optional; the models are only loaded onto the device after manual activation by the user. Some of the AI models work locally, but they can also access Apple's servers at any time. According to Apple's promise, the requests are processed there but then immediately discarded. In a recent interview, Apple CEO Tim Cook sidestepped the question of whether Apple would also open up its apps such as Mail and iMessage to other AI providers –, but the company is always considering "the implications for privacy".

(lbe)