Apple’s AI Partner In China Will Not Be DeepSeek

Due to China’s local laws and regulations, many non-Chinese companies have found it hard to gain a proper foothold in the country. Some, like Apple, have succeeded by playing a very smart game of politics, which includes complying with local laws with little to no resistance. Now, it looks like Apple could be teaming up with Alibaba to develop Apple Intelligence in China instead of DeepSeek.

This comes from a report from The Information which claims that Apple “passed over” working with DeepSeek for Apple Intelligence. It’s actually kind of a surprising move. Many had assumed DeepSeek would be the perfect candidate for Apple Intelligence in China. This is because, unlike other AI models, DeepSeek is built to run more efficiently and requires less resources.

This makes it ideal for on-device AI processing, especially when it comes to safeguarding user privacy, something that Apple has typically prided itself on. However, the report claims that Apple passed on the company but it didn’t elaborate on why. It is possible that the various issues with DeepSeek forced Apple to look elsewhere.

Apple needs to play a delicate balancing game between pandering to the Chinese and US governments. So, avoiding a controversial AI company like DeepSeek is one way to go about it.

Going with Alibaba

So, if Apple isn’t going with DeepSeek, who are they going with? According to the report, Apple assessed various AI models built by different Chinese companies. This included Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and ByteDance. Apple reportedly planned to go with Baidu, but later decided it was not up to its standards.

Now the report claims that Apple has chosen Alibaba as its Apple Intelligence partner in China. Both companies have submitted a set of AI features they co-developed to China’s cyberspace regulator for approval.

One of the features of Apple Intelligence is that it allows users to choose different AI models for different tasks. Apple Intelligence is baked into iOS and macOS for more basic features. However, users who want more complex AI tools can select other AI models. OpenAI’s ChatGPT is currently the only alternative users can choose from.

We have heard reports that Apple and Google could be working to bring Gemini to iOS in a similar manner, but nothing has been confirmed yet. While this will work for other countries, China requires Apple to work with a local company for its AI tools. This is why Apple was assessing AI models from Chinese tech firms.