Apple built its own China specific AI model with Alibaba's help

[DarkMerchant]

Reuters is reporting that Apple has trained its own large language model specifically for the Chinese market with help from Alibaba, based on three people familiar with the matter. This is a shift from what most people expected, since Apple was assumed to just lean entirely on Chinese AI partners rather than build anything proprietary for that market

Under a deal approved last month by China's Cyberspace Administration, Alibaba's Qwen model is set to be integrated into Apple Intelligence on iPhones, iPads, Macs and Vision Pro devices sold in China. Reuters also says Baidu's technology is expected to play a role in the mix, and some Mac users in mainland China have reportedly already been able to connect Qwen to Siri and Writing Tools as an early test

The move would make Apple the first foreign company approved by Beijing to offer its own proprietary AI model in the country, which is a meaningful regulatory win given how tightly China controls generative AI services. It looks like Apple is trying to run a dual track approach, using its own model alongside locally approved partners so it keeps some control over how Apple Intelligence actually behaves

None of this addresses the elephant in the room though, which is that Apple Intelligence still has not launched in China at all while local competitors like Huawei have been shipping AI features on their phones for a while now. This partnership stack with Alibaba and Baidu seems like the path Apple is finally taking to close that gap

Reuters notes it is still unclear exactly how Apple's own model will function alongside Qwen and Baidu's tech once everything actually rolls out, so there is plenty left to be clarified before this shows up on devices

Apple Develops China-Specific AI Model With Alibaba Support, Reuters Reportsfinance.yahoo.com

[Fox50]

Apple being the first foreign company allowed to run its own proprietary AI model in China is a bigger deal than the headline makes it sound, that approval process is notoriously strict

[Hollow]

Feels like classic Apple, take way longer than everyone else to ship a feature but try to control every layer of it once you finally do

[Cobra]

Genuinely curious how a Qwen and Baidu and Apple's own model stack even works in practice. Does Siri just pick whichever backend handles a given request best or is it more integrated than that

[Falcon]

Huawei and the other domestic brands have had a real head start on AI features in China, this feels like Apple playing catch up more than getting ahead of anything

[Leopard96]

The regulatory angle is honestly the most interesting part to me. Getting Beijing's approval for a proprietary foreign model says a lot about how Apple has been navigating that relationship compared to other US tech companies

[Apogee Seb]

The dual track strategy makes sense on paper but sounds like a nightmare to maintain long term, three different AI backends means three different sets of quirks and limitations to manage

[Cass82]

Testing this quietly through Mac Siri and Writing Tools integration before a full rollout is a pretty smart way to work out the kinks without a big public failure

[JonMoxley19]

Not surprised Apple wants its own model in the mix rather than fully outsourcing to Alibaba or Baidu, handing over that much control to local partners would be a real strategic risk for them long term

[GlassKnight89]

It is wild that as recently as a year or two ago Apple looked like it was falling way behind on AI, and now they are cutting deals with two major Chinese tech companies just to catch up in a single market

[Harper84]

Do we know if this China specific model will ever make its way into Apple Intelligence outside China or is it purely built for compliance reasons in that one market