Apple Intelligence coming to China
Apple will finally be able to launch Apple Intelligence in China, but the cost is allowing Alibaba to manipulate AI output to be acceptable to the Chinese government.
Apple Intelligence is an Apple-built artificial intelligence system that runs on devices and in the cloud through Private Cloud Compute. The ChatGPT chatbot can be called via Siri, and Visual Intelligence allows users to search Google, but all the iPhone AI features are built from the ground up with privacy in mind.
According to a report from Bloomberg, Apple’s ability to bring Apple Intelligence to China relies solely on giving the government the ability to censor the output. So, in an unprecedented move, Apple has partnered with multiple AI companies in China to help ensure its customers can use a sanitized version of Apple Intelligence.
Alibaba was confirmed as an AI partner for Apple earlier Thursday, but the details of the deal were unknown. The new report details exactly how the company will be involved.
Apple Intelligence will remain intact as it is in other places in the world, but users in China will have an additional Alibaba layer over it. This layer will manipulate the output of Apple Intelligence to ensure any and all information passed to the user will be censored anything the government doesn’t want shown.
Presumably, Private Cloud Compute would still work, but it would need to be hosted with a different Chinese company in their servers. OpenAI won’t be available, but other AI partnerships could be utilized for world knowledge.
Baidu is reportedly being used for Visual Intelligence, similar to Google in the US. This is the feature on iPhone 16 lineup available when users long-press the Camera Control button.
China also has a requirement that turns off Apple Intelligence when an update is available. This ensures that when Alibaba’s layer needs new censorship information, it can be updated without the danger of the user encountering censored content.
Artificial intelligence is clearly a big mover in the smartphone industry. Apple claimed that regions like China were weaker during the Q4 earnings call because of the lack of Apple Intelligence in the region.
Apple is expected to have an update that enables Apple Intelligence on iPhones sold in China by May. Only devices purchased in China will get this Alibaba layer — iPhones brought from out of country simply won’t have AI.
While the Alibaba layer is unprecedented, it is clearly necessary if Apple wants to sell iPhones with AI in the country. Apple has to adhere to laws and demands of all countries it operates in, whether that’s enabling the censorship of data in China, allowing third-party app stores in the EU, or appeasing the President in the United States to avoid tariffs.
