Apple Intelligence plans in China still unclear due to legal concerns

How Apple Intelligence will work in China remains unclear, as the company has to navigate the country’s generative AI regulations.

A new report says that Apple concluded it was unlikely to get approval to use a system developed outside of China, suggesting that more of the off-device AI will be powered by Chinese companies …

Apple Intelligence plans in the US

When it launches in the US, Apple Intelligence will have a three-tier approach designed to maximize privacy and reliability:

• As many tasks as possible will be performed on-device
• Next in line will be its own AI servers, Private Cloud Compute
• The fallback will be a third-party AI system, with user permission sought first

In the US, the fallback will be to ChatGPT.

But Chinese plans unclear

China regulates the use of generative AI, and each one used in the country must be approved by the Cyberspace Administration of China. Only Chinese-run services are on the approvals list.

What we know for sure is that the fallback AI system will need to be a Chinese one. What is unclear is how Apple will be able to operate Private Cloud Compute in the country.

With iCloud, for example, Chinese law requires that only local companies can store and process cloud data, so Apple was forced to partner with a state-affiliated Chinese company, which decryption keys reportedly held by that company. That created obvious distrust of the setup.

If Apple is forced to take the same approach with Private Cloud Compute, that will naturally raise similar privacy concerns – though the designed-in protections in the US are exceptionally strong.

Baidu, Alibaba, and Baichuan in the running

For the fallback role held by ChatGPT in the US, the WSJ reports that Apple held talks with three Chinese companies.

Early this year, Apple explored the possibility of obtaining approval for a foreign large language model to be used in its devices in China, but it found that Chinese regulators were unlikely to approve it, people familiar with the matter said. That realization prompted Apple to step up talks with potential local partners, they said […]

Apple has held talks with several Chinese companies that make AI models including search-engine company Baidu, e-commerce leader Alibaba Group and a Beijing-based startup called Baichuan AI, people familiar with the matter said.

Samsung users unimpressed by Baidu AI

Baidu had previously been reported by the same source, and this is the company used by Samsung for its own AI services on the Galaxy S24. However, some Chinese consumers have been unimpressed by Baidu’s AI performance.

The capabilities of the Baidu-powered AI have drawn some unfavorable reviews from Chinese internet users. Some compared Google’s AI on the Galaxy S24 with Baidu’s and found Google was able to identify car models and buildings from photographs while Baidu couldn’t. 

Apple has not said exactly when Apple Intelligence features will launch, beyond “the fall.” These features are mostly not available in the current iOS 18 beta.