Apple asked to compromise on user privacy for AI rollout in China
The iPhone 16 launched without Apple Intelligence and when the AI features finally started being rolled out they remained absent from China. Now it turns out that Apple has been trying to port its AI over to the Chinese market but is facing a myriad of challenges in doing so.
For starters Apple isn’t using the same LLM (Large Language Model) to power its AI services in China as it is in the rest of the world. It wouldn’t be impossible to do so but it would complicate matters and possibly delay the rollout of Apple Intelligence in the region by a long while. Instead the company has to collaborate with Chinese multinational Baidu and use its LLM instead.
But there are two problems stopping this collaboration from bearing any fruit. Firstly, Baidu’s AI models are apparently struggling to perform up to the standards Apple has asked for. The AI keeps misunderstanding prompts and queries from users and fails to provide help in common day to day tasks.
Secondly, Baidu wants to use the data collected from the use of its AI models to further improve its models and analyze user prompts for other purposes. Apple’s privacy policies prevent it from collecting this data from its users and so both companies have hit a wall that they will need to negotiate to get over.
China makes up a huge chunk of Apple’s sales but the region has recently seen declining interest in the company’s products. Part of this is likely due to the iPhone 16 being an incomplete device in the country. Apple desperately needs to deliver its AI tools to Chinese consumers if it wants to retain its position in that market.
All of this, in my opinion, is very much Apple’s own doing. Not only did we see one bad software update after another from Apple this year but the fact that the company didn’t prepare all of this in time is very disappointing as well. The new iPhone should never have had such a fragmented launch where some regions get some features and others receive a completely different product.
Apple either has to withdraw from its dealings with Baidu or accept that it cannot provide Chinese consumers the same privacy enjoyed by its users in other regions.
For starters Apple isn’t using the same LLM (Large Language Model) to power its AI services in China as it is in the rest of the world. It wouldn’t be impossible to do so but it would complicate matters and possibly delay the rollout of Apple Intelligence in the region by a long while. Instead the company has to collaborate with Chinese multinational Baidu and use its LLM instead.
Secondly, Baidu wants to use the data collected from the use of its AI models to further improve its models and analyze user prompts for other purposes. Apple’s privacy policies prevent it from collecting this data from its users and so both companies have hit a wall that they will need to negotiate to get over.
All the promised Apple Intelligence features for iPhone. | Video credit — Apple
China makes up a huge chunk of Apple’s sales but the region has recently seen declining interest in the company’s products. Part of this is likely due to the iPhone 16 being an incomplete device in the country. Apple desperately needs to deliver its AI tools to Chinese consumers if it wants to retain its position in that market.
All of this, in my opinion, is very much Apple’s own doing. Not only did we see one bad software update after another from Apple this year but the fact that the company didn’t prepare all of this in time is very disappointing as well. The new iPhone should never have had such a fragmented launch where some regions get some features and others receive a completely different product.
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