Apple reportedly chooses Alibaba over DeepSeek for AI features in China
Apple has been in talks with a bunch of Chinese companies to partner up on offering AI services in China, and according to a new report today, Alibaba is the chosen one. Apple has thus passed over DeepSeek, the AI hype darling of the past few weeks.
Back in December Apple was said to also be talking to Tencent and TikTok owner ByteDance to secure an AI partnership, and in the past it's also been rumored to be talking to Baidu. But in the end, if today's report is accurate, Alibaba rose above the rest.
Apple needs a local partner in China for AI features because the Chinese government has to approve any generative AI services in the country, and it favors local companies as you'd expect. This is why Apple Intelligence still isn't available in China at all.
That, however, may change soon. Apple and Alibaba have allegedly already submitted a first set of co-developed AI features to China's cyberspace regulator for approval. It's unclear how long the approval process may be, but Apple is definitely looking to move fast since its main software development of the past year (Apple Intelligence) has been missing in action in one of its biggest markets.