Apple had announced its Apple intelligence during its annual WWDC 2024 conference, initially supporting American English with plans to extend linguistic support during the following year. However, the technological giant based in Cupertino had indicated that users in China and the European Union (EU) would not immediately have access to these AI features, but now Apple actively works with regulators to approach this limitation , the media reported.
Tim Cook on the availability of Apple Intelligence
During an investor call, Apple CEO, Tim Cook, answered questions about Apple’s intelligence availability on international markets, in particular China and the EU, according to a report 9TO5MAC. Cook said that Apple is “engaged” with regulators to make AI’s features accessible to “everyone”, but has not provided details or deadlines.
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He underlined the company’s commitment to understand the regulatory requirements before defining a calendar to activate the features of these regions.
“We are engaged, as you assume, with the two regulatory organizations you mentioned. And our goal is to move as quickly as possible, obviously, because our goal is always to obtain features for everyone. We must understand the regulatory requirements before committing to doing so and devoting a calendar to do so, but we are very constructive with the two, “said Cook quoted in the call of results.
While Apple Intelligence is currently only available in English, users outside of China and the EU can prevail the features by adjusting the parameters of their device in English and selecting the United States as a region. However, Apple has completely limited access to these AI features for users in China and the European Union.
Apple explained in a press release that the features were blocked in the EU due to “confidentiality and security problems”. This decision probably stems from Apple’s prudence concerning the potential changes in Apple’s intelligence which may be necessary to comply with local AI regulations in Europe. In China, the restriction is probably due to local laws requiring data processing on Chinese servers rather than third -party servers in other countries.