Apple Shifts AI Strategy in China: Teams Up With Alibaba to Train Own Model as Apple Intelligence Launch Nears

TradingKey - On August 13 ET, according to Reuters citing three people familiar with the matter, Apple (AAPL) has trained a large language model specifically for the Chinese market, shifting from its previous strategy of primarily relying on third-party models for AI feature support in China. The model was jointly developed by Apple and Alibaba (BABA) Group and trained with technical support from Alibaba.

This self-training of a model specifically for the Chinese market indicates Apple's growing emphasis on localizing AI services and ensuring regulatory compliance in China.

Sources said Apple Intelligence, Apple's AI tool suite, is expected to officially roll out to users in China within the coming months following subsequent updates to the iOS operating system.

In July this year, Chinese cyberspace authorities announced that seven mobile on-device generative AI services, including "Apple Intelligence", had completed regulatory filing. At the time, Alibaba responded that its Qwen model would be integrated as an AI capability into Apple Intelligence, providing Chinese users on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS with text and image understanding, content generation, and other capabilities.

Industry analysts believe that Apple's move to team up with Alibaba to self-train a China-exclusive model aims to pave the way for the launch of Apple Intelligence in China, while better adapting to the regulatory requirements and user habits of the Chinese market.

As of press time, neither Apple nor Alibaba had responded to media requests for comment.