(June 9): Apple Inc said it isn’t currently able to launch Siri AI, its redesigned digital assistant, on iPhones, Apple Watches or iPads in the European Union (EU), marking the company’s latest standoff with the continent’s antitrust watchdog.
Apple said in a statement Monday that it had proposed an EU-specific solution that would make Siri AI compliant with the bloc’s Digital Markets Act, known as the DMA, while protecting user privacy by limiting the data that virtual assistants could access.
The company said the European Commission did not accept any of its suggestions over the past several months, and that as a result Siri AI will not be available in the EU as part of iOS 27 or iPadOS 27. A representative for the commission did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside of normal business hours.
This is Apple’s latest pushback at the EU’s attempts to crack down on Big Tech’s market influence. Last year, Apple voiced its opposition to many of the rules within the DMA, including allowing outside payments and downloading of apps from alternative marketplaces. The commission has said it will not repeal or change the DMA in response to the company’s complaints, and Apple has been forced to make changes for EU users accordingly.
Earlier Monday, the iPhone maker unveiled the redesigned, smarter Siri, which can answer questions by drawing from what’s on users’ screens, as well as their messages, emails and photos. Apple said under EU regulators’ “extreme interpretation” of the DMA, the company would be required to give any virtual assistant direct access to users’ private data, “without the essential protections necessary to keep users and their data safe”.
The regulators’ “refusal to engage constructively on solutions that preserve privacy and security means we do not currently have a timeline for Siri AI’s availability on iOS and iPadOS in the EU”, said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, in the statement. “Our hope is to eventually bring Siri AI to the EU, and we will continue to engage with EU regulators on a path forward.”
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Siri AI is otherwise being released for developer testing on Monday, and will be available to users later this year in English, as a beta product. It will still be available to EU users in the upcoming versions of the operating systems for the Mac and Vision Pro, Apple said.
The feature isn’t coming to the Apple Watch because the wearable requires a paired to function, according to a company spokesperson. The company also said Siri AI will not be available in China as it works through local regulatory requirements.
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