Report: Apple had DeepSeek in its sights for China, but decided against it
According to a report, the hyped Chinese AI model was also on Apple's list of potential partners. But now it is likely to be Alibaba.
Apple logo: The iPhone company needs a local partner for China.
(Image: generiert mit Midjourney durch Mac & i)
There is still a lot of interest in the Chinese Large Language Model (LLM) DeepSeek – despite serious data protection and security concerns and potential bans in some Western countries. Apple is also said to have taken a closer look at the AI provider. This is reported by the IT news service The Information from the United States.
DeepSeek "bypassed"?
However, Apple's plan was not to use DeepSeek for Apple Intelligence in general. Instead, the aim was to find a potential partner for the Chinese version of the AI system. Apple is not allowed to simply use its own large language model or offerings such as ChatGPT from OpenAI in the People's Republic. Instead, the government insists that a Chinese LLM is used. Apple's AI department has therefore been working for months to find a suitable partner. DeepSeek was looked at, but then "passed over", writes The Information.
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It is unclear whether there have been direct talks about a deal. The review by the iPhone manufacturer is also likely to have taken place before the current DeepSeek hype, which among other things led to the app belonging to the Chinese AI achieving top positions in the App Store and Play Store. Whether Apple will now take another look at the provider has also not been leaked.
More interest in large corporations
According to The Information, Apple is now focusing on a collaboration with one of the major Chinese network companies. This is likely to be Alibaba. Apple had also looked at models from Tencent, ByteDance (parent company of TikTok) and Baidu (Ernie Bot), but apparently rejected them. Baidu was in focus last year, but after tests and measurements of Ernie Bot and other models, Apple is said to have decided against it.
Following the hype surrounding DeepSeek, market observers have meanwhile praised Apple's rather slow strategy when it comes to AI. The stock market website Motley Fool wrote, "after DeepSeek, it could be that Apple may have had the best AI strategy of all". The reason: DeepSeek shows that it is possible to achieve great AI performance with particularly efficient models – something that Apple will hopefully be able to achieve in the future. At the moment, Apple Intelligence is seen as being left behind, especially as the better, generative version of Siri may not be introduced until iOS 19 in the summer. Apple CEO Tim Cook recently told analysts in response to a question about DeepSeek that he believes innovations that boost efficiency are "a good thing".
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