Apple and Alibaba have developed their own AI model for China
Reuters reports that Apple has trained its own large language model for the Chinese market, rather than relying on a third-party model, to run its Apple Intelligence features in the country.
According to the report’s sources, the LLM was developed with support from Alibaba. This development marks a break with the previous strategy of relying on domestic models for developing generative AI for iPhones sold in China.
Apple is the first provider with its own Chinese AI model
The rollout of AI capabilities in China is expected in the coming months. The report describes the rollout as a “two-pronged strategy” for AI deployment in China, enabling the company to overcome regulatory hurdles that have hampered access for other US technology companies.
This makes the Americans the first foreign company to receive approval from the Chinese government to offer its own AI model in the country.
The American company had previously reached an agreement with Chinese regulators to integrate Alibaba’s Qwen model into its intelligence features, similar to the ChatGPT extension already available in other countries. Apple briefly published instructions in China explaining to Mac users how to connect Alibaba’s Qwen AI to Siri and the writing tools, but removed them less than a day later.
