Apple looking inside China for AI providers to sidestep regulatory issues

A Siri icon superimposed on Apple Park

Apple has a very large artificial intelligence division, that has been led by ex-Googler John Gianndrea for years. Recently, Apple has been tied to Google as a potential partner for technology — but that may not suit the Chinese market.

A report on Friday by the Wall Street Journal claims that Apple is continuing to look for partners in generative AI technologies. The latest partner is said to be China's Baidu, in part to ease regulatory issues in one of Apple's largest markets.

The report notes that Baidu has rolled out more than 40 generative AI models, all approved under new regulations in the country. Notably, the Chinese government has not authorized any models made by companies based in other countries, like ChatGPT and Google's Gemini.

Discussions with Baidu are said to be in the early stages, and details in the report are very light. It's also unclear if Apple has started talking with other vendors in the country.

Apple CEO Tim Cook has promised some big releases of AI technology in Apple products coming in 2024.

"As we look ahead, we will continue to invest in these and other technologies that will shape the future that includes artificial intelligence, where we continue to spend a tremendous amount of time and effort and we're excited to share the details of our ongoing work in that space later this year," Cook said during the January earnings announcement covering the 2023 holiday period.

"Our MO, if you will, has always been to to do work and then talk about work, and not to get out in front of ourselves and so we're going to hold that to this as well," Cook continued. "But we have got some things that we're incredibly excited about, that we'll be talking about later this year."

Apple's 2024 WWDC is expected to start this discussion in earnest.