Apple’s push to bring Apple Intelligence to China has taken a big step forward, with it working with Alibaba to produce AI features for the country’s iPhone users.
Apple Intelligence isn’t available in China yet
Apple is in the middle of a slow rollout of Apple Intelligence to its iPhone, iPad, and Mac users, with it currently only available in a small number of English-speaking countries. There is the intention to bring it to China among other territories, but regulatory issues have been the stumbling block so far.
To operate in China, Apple has to abide by the country’s regulatory rules concerning AI models. While it is a difficult prospect to do so by itself, the easier path is to partner with a tech company in the country working on AI, which can quickly be turned into a regional and regulation-meeting version of Apple Intelligence.