Apple now said to be talking to Tencent and TikTok owner ByteDance for AI features in China

Apple is reportedly in talks with Tencent and TikTok owner ByteDance to collaborate on developing artificial intelligence capabilities in China. Negotiations are said to be at a very early stage, so there’s still a chance nothing will come of it.

Apple needs a Chinese partner for its AI capabilities because any generative AI services must be approved by the Chinese government, and Apple clearly favors local companies when it comes to such authorizations.

Apple started bringing ChatGPT to Apple Intelligence, but for the same reasons mentioned above, ChatGPT is not available in China.

Of course, any Chinese company that can partner with Apple to deploy AI services will immediately become a major winner in China’s crowded AI space.

Apple has previously Negotiating with Baidu But according to recent rumors, the discussion “has suffered setbacks due to technical issues, including controversy over the use of iPhone user data to train artificial intelligence models.”

The lack of any artificial intelligence features in Chinese iPhones has become a considerable problem for Apple, which has reduced Apple’s market share in the world’s largest smartphone market.

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