The European Union might feel a little left out this September, when Apple is expected to ship key Apple Intelligence and other updates in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia.
It's not that Apple doesn't want to bring its own brand of artificial intelligence to European countries. Features like Math Notes on iPadOS, generative AI Genmojis, online AI writing assistance, and generative image editing capabilities across multiple platforms wowed developers and excited iOS, iPadOS, and macOS customers when Apple introduced them earlier. this month at WWDC 2024 in California.
At the time, it was understood that Apple Intelligence features would work in US English, but most thought this was a limitation of the language's capabilities and not one related to restrictions from third-party entities.
However, we now know that Apple probably won't roll out iPhone Mirroring, Share Play, screen sharing improvements, and most importantly, Apple Intelligence to European users this year. The reason? The EU Digital Markets Law.
Broadly speaking, the DMA seeks to ensure that companies such as Apple, Google, Amazon, Meta and Microsoft, which wield significant market power, do not abuse that control. From the EU's point of view, Apple has abused its position, and last year the EU designated Apple as a gatekeeper and forced it to make platform-level changes, such as allowing third-party app stores to work with the iPhone.
Apple, unfortunately, complied in the EU and in its own way.
The EU's actions have raised the level of uncertainty for Apple and it appears that it is now preemptively putting the brakes on improvements to avoid further EU actions.
Apple gave me this statement to explain:
@techradar ♬ original sound – TechRadar
Two weeks ago, Apple introduced hundreds of new features that we are excited to offer to our users around the world. We are very motivated to make these technologies accessible to all users. However, due to regulatory uncertainties caused by the Digital Markets Act (DMA), we do not believe we will be able to implement three of these features (iPhone Mirroring, SharePlay screen sharing enhancements, and Apple Intelligence) in our EU. users this year.
Specifically, we are concerned that the DMA's interoperability requirements may force us to compromise the integrity of our products in ways that put user privacy and data security at risk. We are committed to working with the European Commission in an attempt to find a solution that allows us to offer these features to our EU customers without compromising their security.
After all, it could be privacy
Unsurprisingly, Apple is once again focusing on how the EU demands can, in its view, lead to less security and privacy for its consumers. Whether you buy it or not, there's no doubt that Apple has prioritized data security and privacy when it comes to launching its first generative AI products. Apple Intelligence introduced the concept of secure cloud or, more specifically, Private Cloud Compute, which is where Apple's largest generative models will reside. Apple does not specify any differences between models that operate locally and those that use its cloud because it insists that data privacy and security (including anonymity and encryption) are exactly the same.
If, for example, the EU required Apple to invite third-party cloud providers to work with or sometimes replace Private Cloud Computing, that would potentially reduce or eliminate those data protections.
Interestingly, the EU DMA only specifies Apple as the guardian of iOS and iPadOS, but macOS is now part of the picture due to the new iPhone mirroring feature and an unusual update that allows you to run your iPhone screen on your Mac I saw it and it's a fascinating feature.
The book is not closed on this. Apple is still working with the EU to find a compromise and perhaps by the time Apple Intelligence appears later this summer, the parties will have reached an agreement. However, it's unlikely anything will arrive in time for Apple's screen-sharing iPhone Mirroring and Shareplay updates, which Apple plans to launch in beta on Monday (June 24).
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