Apple’s AI Plans in China Raise Eyebrows Among US Officials
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Apple’s plans to partner with Alibaba to bring Apple Intelligence to its devices sold in China is raising concern among officials in Washington, according to a report from The New York Times.
Members of Congress and the Trump White House are expressing concerns about Apple’s plans to partner with Chinese e-commerce behemoth Alibaba to bring Apple Intelligence to Apple devices in China. The Cupertino firm sees the deal as crucial to getting its AI to China and remaining competitive in the country.
China accounts for approximately 20% of Apple’s global sales, according to The Times. However, if Apple wants to launch Apple Intelligence in China, it must partner with a Chinese AI provider, as Beijing has had a long-standing policy banning all foreign AI systems. Other usual chatbot suspects, like Google’s Gemini or OpenAI’s ChatGPT, are similarly prohibited from operating inside the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
This has posed problems for Apple in China. While the company’s core Apple Intelligence features rely on Apple’s own AI large language models (LLMs), they also rely on ChatGPT to provide access to expanded resources that are beyond what Apple can handle on its own right now.
This means Apple must find an AI partner in China to replace ChatGPT. Also, to be allowed to run Apple Intelligence in the PRC, Apple’s own LLMs would need to be approved by the Chinese government.
If Apple wants to launch Apple Intelligence in China, it needs to develop an entirely different Chinese-based LLM for Chinese iPhones. The company spent several months searching for a Chinese partner to assist it.
US officials are concerned that such a deal would allow China to become even more competitive against US AI companies. The government also has concerns that any such agreement would likely require Apple to follow Chinese laws that impose censorship on AI results, while also being forced to allow user data-sharing with the Chinese government.
Apple is under considerable pressure to boost sales of its iPhone lineup in China. Without Apple Intelligence features, Apple is concerned about falling sales in the country against rival Chinese-made handsets.
The partnership is reportedly far enough along that the partnering companies have already submitted their co-developed AI features to government regulators in China for approval. While this indicates the approval could happen soon, no one knows how long the approval process will take. Even if the AI features are approved, it will still take some time to roll out the new features in an updated version of iOS in the country.
Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, the ranking Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, has expressed concern over the Apple/Alibaba deal, as he says there are “serious concerns” that the deal will allow Alibaba to collect data to refine its AI models.
Krishnamoorthi also insists this enables Apple to “turn a blind eye” to the fundamental human and privacy rights of Chinese iPhone users.
Alibaba, like most Chinese firms, has close ties with the Chinese government, and this is at the core of US officials’ concerns. Greg Allen, director of the Wadhwani AI Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, adds that there is an ongoing AI race between the US and China, and American companies should not be giving Chinese AI firms a hand up in this expanding field.
Officials from both the White House and the House of Representatives have reportedly contacted Apple for more information about the deal, asking whether such a deal would give Chinese firms access to user data, as well as advanced AI models.
The US officials questioning the deal have also considered adding Alibaba and other Chinese AI companies to a list of companies that US firms are restricted from working with.
In addition to Alibaba, Apple has also held discussions with several other China-based AI firms, such as Baidu, DeepSeek, and Tencent.
