Alibaba's Qwen goes live inside Siri on Chinese Macs after two-year regulatory wait

Apple switched on Alibaba’s Qwen model for Mac users in mainland China on August 8, 2026. Now Siri and Writing Tools get answers and write text using Qwen.

Apple has publicly confirmed that the integration is now live. It added a Chinese-approved AI engine inside its software for the country’s biggest device base.

A Qwen login now gates Siri on Mac computers

Mac owners must first go into system settings and log in to a Qwen account, Apple’s site states. Only then does Siri start getting answers from Qwen, and Writing Tools begins drafting text with it.

Users will choose when to use Qwen and will be prompted before anything is shared with it. They can also toggle a setting to let Siri route requests to Qwen.

Alibaba is prohibited from using any of these requests to train or improve its models.

The feature is part of Apple Intelligence, which Apple still calls a Beta. The language list includes Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese.

Apple’s Chinese pages for iPhone, iPad, and Vision Pro advertise nothing about Qwen support. In July, Qwen was supposed to come to Apple Intelligence on iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and VisionOS in China.

“Qwen will be integrated into Apple Intelligence experiences within iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and vision OS for users in China,” Alibaba said when it announced the deal.

Apple is working with Baidu on AI search features that feed into Apple Intelligence and sharpen the Chinese version of Siri, according to Chinese media outlets.

Beijing’s sign-off took two years and lifted Alibaba’s stock

It took Apple about two years of lobbying to get an approval from Chinese regulators.

China requires generative AI services to be approved by regulators before they can be offered. Apple used services from companies that had already received approval in the country.

The Cyberspace Administration of China released a registration list July 15 for seven on-device generative AI services for phones, including “Apple Intelligence.” Apple Technology Development (Shanghai) Co is the listed registrant.

Cryptopolitan reported the regulator cleared Apple along with six other handset makers such as Huawei, Oppo, and Samsung.

Alibaba’s Hong Kong-listed stock climbed 5% the day it confirmed Apple would use Qwen, Cryptopolitan reported. Baidu gained 4%, and Apple added 1%.

The deal to embed Qwen in Apple’s software provided Alibaba with one of its biggest commercial deals to date, reaching millions of Chinese users across the Apple product line.

Apple said revenue for the fiscal third quarter ended June 27 was $109.4 billion, up 16%. Greater China sales climbed 22% to $18.816 billion. The iPhone set a June quarter record in Greater China, and Mac computers had their best quarter ever there, CEO Tim Cook said.

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