Competition laws, according to Apple, jeopardise security and privacy by mandating interoperability with competing goods
Due to EU competition rules demanding compatibility with competing devices, Apple has decided to postpone the debut of three new AI features in Europe. Although these functionalities won’t be available in Europe until 2025, they will debut in the US this autumn.
The business revealed on Friday that three features—SharePlay Screen Sharing improvements, Apple Intelligence, and Phone Mirroring—will not be accessible to consumers in the EU this year because of regulatory uncertainty resulting from the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Apple claimed that EU legislation would jeopardise the security of its devices—a claim it has repeatedly made but which EU officials have refuted.
“We are particularly concerned that the DMA’s interoperability requirements could force us to compromise our products’ integrity, risking user privacy and data security,” Apple wrote in a message.
The European Commission told Bloomberg that as long as Apple abides by local regulations, it is welcome in the EU.
At its annual developer conference earlier this month, Apple unveiled Apple Intelligence, a set of AI capabilities that combines ChatGPT and Siri to perform web searches and produce text or images.
These assistive tools will be able to search a phone’s emails, texts, and images to discover specific information based on user prompts when the next version of Apple’s mobile operating system is released later this year.
According to the business, iPads and Macs with the M1 chip or later models, as well as the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, will support these functionalities. Mac PCs can view and interact with the iPhone’s screen thanks to iPhone Mirroring on MacOS Sequoia.
“We are committed to working with the European Commission to find a solution that allows us to deliver these features to our EU customers without compromising their safety,” Apple said.
Apple made it clear that privacy will come first in its new AI features. CEO Tim Cook gave an assurance at the beginning of June that these capabilities would “be grounded in your personal context, such as your routine, relationships, communications, and more.”
