Apple had announced its Apple Intelligence at its annual WWDC 2024 conference, initially supporting US English with plans to expand language support over the following year. However, the Cupertino-based tech giant had indicated that users in China and the European Union (EU) would not have immediate access to these AI features, but now, Apple is actively working with regulators to address this limitation, the media has reported.
Tim Cook On Availability Of Apple Intelligence
During an investor call, Apple CEO Tim Cook addressed questions about the availability of Apple Intelligence in international markets, particularly China and the EU, according to a report by 9to5Mac. Cook stated that Apple is "engaged" with regulators to make AI features accessible to "everyone," but did not provide specific details or timelines.
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He emphasised the company's commitment to understanding regulatory requirements before setting a timeline for enabling the features in these regions.
"We’re engaged, as you would guess, with both regulatory bodies that you mentioned. And our objective is to move as fast as we can, obviously, because our objective is always to get features out there for everyone. We have to understand the regulatory requirements before we can commit to doing that and commit a schedule to doing that, but we’re very constructively engaged with both," Cook was quoted as saying in the earnings call.
While Apple Intelligence is currently only available in English, users outside China and the EU can preview the features by adjusting their device settings to English and selecting the United States as their region. However, Apple has completely restricted access to these AI features for users in China and the European Union.
Apple explained in a statement that the features were blocked in the EU due to "privacy and security concerns." This decision likely stems from Apple's caution regarding potential modifications to Apple Intelligence that might be necessary to comply with local AI regulations in Europe. In China, the restriction is likely due to local laws requiring data processing on Chinese servers rather than on third-party servers in other countries.