Yesterday a report from China claimed that Apple decided to use Baidu developed generative AI services in China, but now it looks like someone might have jumped the gun on that.
According to a new report today, also from China, the deal isn’t done, at least not yet. Talks may be ongoing, or not – this report doesn’t go into much more detail than saying there is at this point no deal.
If Apple does in the end agree to use Baidu’s generative AI services for the Chinese market, this will be baked into iOS 18 scheduled to release to the masses this fall.
Apple can’t really go with any Western-developed AI, since the Chinese authorities need to approve every single model before it’s released to the public and it’s very unlikely any non-Chinese developed ones would get the go-ahead. Hence, Apple has to pick a local partner for this, and Baidu seemed like a shoo-in. Now, not so much. We’ll have to wait and see what happens.
