EU Says Decision Not to Launch Siri AI in Europe Is Apple's Alone
- Reference: 0183718496
- News link: https://apple.slashdot.org/story/26/06/09/1749209/eu-says-decision-not-to-launch-siri-ai-in-europe-is-apples-alone
- Source link:
> Commission spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters in Brussels: "The decision not to roll out Siri AI in the EU is Apple's and Apple's only. Apple was simply unable to develop interoperability solutions that meet essential EU privacy and security standards. Instead of trying to find a suitable compliance solution, Apple simply made a request to the European Commission to be exempted from their interoperability obligations. That's not an option."
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> Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering, said the company was "deeply disappointed" and cited what it described as regulators' refusal to accept any of Apple's proposals, including a system called Trusted System Agent that would have allowed third-party virtual assistants to safely access the same device capabilities as Siri AI.
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> The Commission's account tells a different story. Rather than negotiating over Apple's proposed solutions, regulators say Apple simply requested a blanket exemption from its interoperability obligations under the Digital Markets Act, something the Commission says is not an available option. Apple's statement framed the DMA's requirements as demanding that any AI system be given "nearly unlimited access" to a user's device.
[1] https://apple.slashdot.org/story/26/06/08/1811209/apple-announces-siri-ai-next-generation-of-apple-intelligence
[2] https://www.macrumors.com/2026/06/09/eu-says-decision-not-to-launch-siri-ai-in-europe-is-apples/
it's a good experiment. (Score:2)
Having diversity of features in major Western markets is actually good, imo.
Let's see how addition usage and social impact of the new sorry is in the US vs (the lack of it in) the EU.
"elections have consequences" as they say. Let's see which side is better off in there years, and ten years.
(on this one I'm thinking the EU is the one playing hard ball... but maybe there right to hold the line)
Re:it's a good experiment. (Score:5, Insightful)
> (on this one I'm thinking the EU is the one playing hard ball... but maybe there right to hold the line)
If deciding to stick to their laws and not let an American company try to bully them into ignoring those laws for that company's own benefit only, then I'm all for them "playing hardball".
Re: (Score:3)
>> (on this one I'm thinking the EU is the one playing hard ball... but maybe there right to hold the line)
> If deciding to stick to their laws and not let an American company try to bully them into ignoring those laws for that company's own benefit only, then I'm all for them "playing hardball".
I reject that it is "for the company's benefit only"... and that's why I'm saying "we'll see" what the social benefit/cost of this decision is over time as Americans use new Siri and Europeans don't.
And Google already launched what Apple wanted to launch... and the EU slapped them down also and as we speak Google is going the other way and opening the APIs to competitors. but haven't yet.
so, again, we'll get to see IRL the outcomes of different policy choices, which often we don't get to try; only argue ab
Re: (Score:1)
It's not really hard ball. Everyone's favorite fascist grandma Thierry Breton, the author of relevant AI regulation made history in EU.
He was the first Frenchman that French president let German head of Commission remove by her request. Because after Breton started boasting about regulating AI before it even came to EU, a lot of national elites realized how badly they fucked up putting him in a position to do that.
There have been many efforts to reduce AI regulation in EU since, with at least one major init
No skin off my nose. (Score:4, Insightful)
If it had been released the first thing I'd do is look for the off switch.
Shots Fired! (Score:2)
> Apple was simply unable to develop interoperability solutions that meet essential EU privacy and security standards
Shots fired! I'm no Apple fan, but I'm sure they could develop interoperability solutions that "meet essential EU privacy and security standards". They chose not to implement the feature that way due to some restrictions of the DMA. However, it's still not clear to me what the DMA has to do with an on-device AI assistant. The MacRumors article cites representatives from the EU and Apple, y
Re: (Score:3)
> Shots fired! I'm no Apple fan, but I'm sure they could develop interoperability solutions that "meet essential EU privacy and security standards". They chose not to implement the feature that way due to some restrictions of the DMA. However, it's still not clear to me what the DMA has to do with an on-device AI assistant. The MacRumors article cites representatives from the EU and Apple, yet never gets to the heart of the matter.
The DMA means that they are limited in their ability to build systems that favor Apple-provided services over other companies' services. And Siri is a service. So unless they want to allow native Google Assistant, Alexa, etc. alongside Siri, complete with the same level of access to user content, they can't roll it out in Europe. Creating an infrastructure for making that possible while protecting user privacy is genuinely hard.
This is not to say that Apple shouldn't be pressured to do so, but at the sam
Normal (Score:3)
If I bought an iPhone and Siri doesn't speak Catalan, Basque, Galician, Breton, Occitan, Alsatian, Corsican, Sardinian, Friulian, Sorbian, Kashubian, etc I'd ask for my money back.:-)
Why not let (Score:2)
Users decide if they want an iPhone with Siri AI or some other solution (Android)?
Re:Why not let (Score:5, Insightful)
The EU goal is to protect it's citizens. The U.S. doesn't care about it's citizens, only the Rich and Big corporate campaign donors. Otherwise we would be enforcing fraud laws, and pushing for standards like the EU.
Like the U.S. used to e.g. NEMA, Edison socket, bios. More and more companies are using proprietary standards, which destroys the free market and generates waste (at high consumer cost). One example modern UEFI implementations suck; especially if you actually want to use them.
U.S. citizens are less free, less happy, less stable than real democracies in Europe, and the trend continues downward. Our Healthcare cost/benefit wise is horrible and it's only getting worse every year. Just like the wealth gap. If your not in the 1%, it's getting harder and harder to maintain a decent lifestyle
Re: (Score:2)
> More and more companies are using proprietary standards
Agreed.
> which destroys the free market
I'm sorry to be pedantic, but I think you're referring to a fair market. The free market is what lets companies create and proliferate proprietary standards - because they're free to do whatever they want without any regulation.
Re: (Score:2)
> The EU goal is to protect it's citizens. The U.S. doesn't care about it's citizens, only the Rich and Big corporate campaign donors.
And why should the US Administration care? There are plenty of useful idiots that cheer for not having rights or getting their rights violated. See the person you responded to for a nice example.
Re: (Score:1)
US citizens seem to be doing just fine without the same EU regulations. I'm more inclined to trust Apple here, they are one of the most privacy focused companies in the US. Based on the last statement it seems the regulators are confused and somehow thing any AI gets "nearly unlimited access," while Apple does not agree.
Re: (Score:2)
Apple has not the size to forego 400 million potential customers. And they can still sell iPhones without Siri in Europe. Hence, the shareholders will pressure Apple management to realize the revenue, even if that means not installing Siri on the devices.
Besides that, many companies operating in both North America and Europe want the same mobile devices on both sides of the pond, to streamline roll-out and control processes for the devices, and if they decided for Apple in the U.S., they will try to stron
Re:Why not let (Score:5, Informative)
> We might be sing the start of Manufacturers telling the EU to go pound sand
Manufacturers tell various markets to pound sand all the time, it's exclusively related to how much they think they can use their product to make profit. There are two possible scenarios:
1. Apple may fold and release a compliant Siri AI.
2. The world will suddenly realise that Siri AI is a feature that is so worthless that it doesn't help Apple turn a profit in a market of 450million westerners.
Those are really the two scenarios. Scenario 3 - giving up profit in one of the most lucrative markets - will result in shareholders putting the CEO's head on a pike and is thus unrealistic.
There are plenty of companies who don't launch things in the EU, usually either because they are worthless when compliant with the law. Never mind, there's other countries which do allow you to fuck your customers. (I mean beyond the actual profession that exists and is widely popular in certain districts of Amsterdam).
Re: (Score:1)
I know this is not likely, but the following also could be a scenario:
3. Apple doesn't plan to make money off AI, but implementing it to stay feature-competitive with Google.
I've decided (Score:2)
I dont want any AI on my phone. If I need any LLM drivel I can use the browser otherwise my phone and data is off limits.
Re:Why not let (Score:4, Insightful)
Because we have a duopoly, and thus they both need to be restrained, guided and controlled by government intervention. Apple/Android lost any semblance of being able to 'free market' their business when they became defacto gear for modern living. They wanted to use phones to open cars, hotel doors and act as a digital wallet, well there are social prices to these features. Almost everyone needs a phone and there are only 2 options at this level. Regulation is required for things that scale across so many people.
Re: (Score:3)
> Users decide
The problem with "users decide" is fundamental in economic theory. Users don't decide. Users are ultimately pushed. There's a fundamental power imbalance between suppliers and demanders.
People aren't going to just ditch their iPhones due to one minor feature, that results in market power being used (phone market share) being used to monopolize market share in another segment (AI tools). This results in less options for iPhones, less competition, more market share for Apple, and then at the end of the day, y