Apple has abandoned plans to launch its flagship artificial intelligence product inside the European Union over restrictions imposed upon it by Brussels.<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s new Siri AI system \u2014 which will soon be deployed on iPhones and iPads across the United States \u2014 will not come to Europe for the foreseeable future due to issues with the EU\u2019s Digital Markets Act.<\/p>\n
Brussels has imposed specific restrictions on the company\u2019s phone and tablet offerings over claims that it holds too much of the continent\u2019s market.<\/p>\n
It has since ordered Apple to undercut its own products to boost competitors, or face fines of up to ten per cent of its annual global turnover.<\/p>\n
In a press release published on June 8, Apple said that the restrictions imposed upon it by the Commission have made releasing its AI products on iPhone and iPad impossible for the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, due to the Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple will not be able to ship Siri AI in the European Union with the release of iOS 27 and iPadOS 27,\u201d the company wrote.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the past several months, EU regulators did not accept any of Apple\u2019s proposed solutions to bring Siri AI to the EU while safely supporting other virtual assistants.\u201d<\/p>\n
The firm argued that the DMA restrictions imposed on it fundamentally jeopardise the security of its software, putting its users in danger.<\/p>\n
It added that while it proposed a possible solution to the EU that would aim to comply with such restrictions while also ensuring user security, it claimed these were rejected.<\/p>\n
\u201cSiri AI is private by design and deeply integrated across Apple\u2019s platforms using on-device processing and Private Cloud Compute, which extends the privacy and security of iPhone into the cloud,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
\u201cHowever, under EU regulators\u2019 extreme interpretation of the DMA, Apple would have to give any virtual assistant direct access to users\u2019 private data \u2014 and the ability to directly control other installed applications \u2014 as soon as Siri AI is made available in the EU, without the essential protections necessary to keep users and their data safe.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSecurity researchers have already shown that AI systems can be hijacked to steal personal data \u2014 like passwords and photos \u2014 and to permanently alter files and account settings without a user\u2019s consent. As AI systems gain more capabilities, these risks are quickly increasing in frequency and scope.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven the serious risks to users, Apple designed a solution called Trusted System Agent \u2014 an intermediary that would allow virtual assistants to safely access the same features and capabilities as Siri AI for devices in the EU\u2026 The European Commission said no. In fact, the European Commission did not agree to any of Apple\u2019s proposals,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
Apple concluded that \u201cgiven the clear dangers to EU users\u201d of its products and what it called \u201cthe regulators\u2019 failure to acknowledge these risks\u201d, it no longer had any timeline for the release of Siri AI on iPhone and iPad in Europe.<\/p>\n
The announcement is the latest instance of US tech firms delaying or cancelling product releases in Europe as a result of Brussels regulations.<\/p>\n
The Digital Markets Act \u2014 the sister regulation of the censorship-enabling Digital Services Act \u2014 has proven particularly difficult for American companies, with the regulation imposing asymmetric restrictions on their products compared to European alternatives.<\/p>\n
Under the DMA, companies deemed to be \u201cgatekeepers\u201d must sabotage their own products for the benefit of their competitors. Apple has been designated as one of these gatekeepers since the law came into force, having already been fined \u20ac500m for alleged breaches of the regulation.<\/p>\n
Google \u2014 Apple\u2019s main competitor in the smartphone and tablet operating system market \u2014 is also facing investigations under the DMA for allegedly keeping its Android software closed off to certain rival companies.<\/p>\n
Apple also announced that EU users would be able to use Siri AI on MacOS, as well as its Vision Pro 3D headset, as neither platforms currently face the top-level restrictions of the DMA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Apple has abandoned plans to launch its flagship artificial intelligence product inside the European Union over restrictions imposed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19973,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[12721,18,6429,277,125],"class_list":["post-19972","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brussels","tag-apple","tag-brussels","tag-digital-markets-act","tag-european-commission","tag-european-union"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@be\/116720366210139196","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19972"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19972"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/be\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}