Apple is reportedly in talks with Tencent and TikTok parent company, ByteDance, about integrating artificial intelligence (AI) models into iPhones sold in China. The talk between the three was supposedly kickstarted by the rollout of OpenAI’s ChatGPT into said devices, which itself is part of the fruit company’s self-styled Apple Intelligence.
In this case, the application of Apple Intelligence allows Siri, the company’s voice assistant and chatbot, to integrate and utilise the AI tool, providing users with a deeper and more seamless interaction whenever they inquire about photos and documents.
At current, ChatGPU isn’t available in China, due to the country’s requirements that generative AI services and models first obtain government approval before public release. As you can imagine, this has forced the company from Cupertino to seek out partnerships with local companies like Tencent and ByteDance.
Discussions between Apple and the two Chinese tech giants are still in their early stages, so little is known about their plans on how they plan on bringing generative AI to the country’s masses. At the time of writing, ByteDance declined to comment to Reuters, while the other two had yet to respond.
(Source: Reuters)
