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iOS 18 Rumor: Apple and Baidu 'Yet to Reach' Generative AI Partnership

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Apple has yet to reach a generative AI partnership with Chinese company Baidu, according to a China Daily report citing sources familiar with the matter. Some earlier reports said the two companies had finalized an agreement following discussions. It is possible that the negotiations are still ongoing, but this is not confirmed.

iOS 18 Mock Siri Feature Baubles
If the partnership does happen, Baidu would likely power some of iOS 18's rumored generative AI features in China only. Generative AI models must receive approval from the Chinese government, and Baidu's Ernie chatbot is permitted in the country. Google's Gemini and OpenAI's ChatGPT chatbots are not available in China.

Apple has reportedly held similar generative AI partnership discussions with Google and OpenAI for the U.S. market, and likely other countries.

Apple has repeatedly teased that it has generative AI announcements to share later this year, and this likely refers to iOS 18. The software update is rumored to include new generative AI features for a range of iPhone features and apps, including Siri, Spotlight, Apple Music, Health, Messages, Numbers, Pages, Keynote, Shortcuts, and more.

iOS 18 will be previewed at Apple's developers conference WWDC in June, so we're just a few months away from learning about the company's plans.

Related Forums: iOS 18, iPadOS 18

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Top Rated Comments

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lenningj
32 months ago
Consumer AI fatigue...
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
dannyyankou Avatar
dannyyankou
32 months ago

It would be nice if Apple does a country-specific AI partnership approach like this. That way users in countries whose language isn't English don't have to miss out on AI features.
It's a shame though that this is even necessary because they want to censor information.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
S
Someyoungguy
32 months ago

When one of the reasons is also the fear of the "spread misinformation beneficial to Beijing" because U.S. lawmakers see TikTok as a news platform, then that is censorship.

https://apnews.com/article/tiktok-ban-bill-support-congress-china-data-f1ec5b720bb68884c6423c62f314dcff

Some lawmakers and critics of TikTok have argued the Chinese government could force the company to share data on American users. TikTok says it has never done that and wouldn’t do so if asked. The U.S. government also hasn’t provided evidence of that happening.

Critics also claim the app could be used to spread misinformation beneficial to Beijing.

[ . . . ]

“Today, it’s about our bill and it’s about intimidating members considering that bill, but tomorrow it could be misinformation or lies about an election, about a war, about any number of things,” Gallagher said. “This is why we can’t take a chance on having a dominant news platform in America controlled or owned by a company that is behold to the Chinese Communist Party, our foremost adversary.”
Beijing has no right to free speech in the US.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
B
benface
32 months ago
Unrelated to the article (sorry) but who designed this and why is it in every article about iOS 18?! 😅



Attachment Image
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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webkit
32 months ago

Is the DOJ gonna be cool with this?
The DOJ should be ok with it, especially if it is only used for the non-U.S. market.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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gatorvet96
32 months ago
Seems that if a countries' leadership are confident that their system is the best for the people, that they wouldn't have to hide information from those people. Seems like they are insecure.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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