Apple Faces Big Obstacles In Integrating Apple Intelligence In China

Apple Intelligence development, in China is facing serious obstacles. (photo: x @theapplehub)

JAKARTA Apple's efforts to launch their artificial intelligence service, Apple Intelligence, in China face serious obstacles. Reportedly, Apple's partnership with Baidu, one of China's leading technology companies, recently experienced technical issues and privacy-related philosophical differences.

Apple Intelligence is seen as an important strategy to drive iPhone sales in the Chinese market, which has shown a decline over the past few years due to rising competition with local brands like Huawei. However, although Apple could theoretically launch this service itself, regulation in China forced them to partner with local companies.

The partnership with Baidu, which was previously denied by local media, is now confirmed by a report from The Information. However, this collaborative process was disrupted by Baidu's large language models (LLMs), Ernie 4.0, which was deemed to have failed to provide answers that met Apple's standards.

For example, when a user asks for a restaurant recommendation, Baidu AI only provides results based on training data. Meanwhile, Apple wants Apple Intelligence to provide a more personal answer, taking user location and activity into account in real-time.

Another problem arises when Baidu wants to improve its model by maintaining user data for further training, a move that goes against Apple's strict privacy commitments.

Apple and Baidu are currently developing two versions of Ernie to overcome these obstacles, namely a small version that can run on iPhone devices and a large cloud-based version. However, this delay led to the launch of Apple Intelligence in China pushed back until 2025, which could have a negative impact on iPhone sales.

The decline in iPhone sales in China was increasingly seen during the Singles Day shopping event, where Apple recorded a double-digit drop compared to the previous year. Meanwhile, local competitors such as Huawei continue to strengthen their dominance in the market.

Apple's efforts to remain relevant in China face tough challenges, especially with market expectations of local technological innovation.

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