Chinese technology company Alibaba Group has partnered with Apple to integrate its Qwen artificial intelligence model into Apple Intelligence for the Chinese market, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Saturday.
According to Alibaba, the feature will become available for testing through the latest iOS developer beta starting November 4, ahead of its planned launch with the official iOS 27.3 release in December.
The integration will bring Qwen’s AI capabilities to several Apple features, including Siri, Writing Tools and Visual Intelligence.
Privacy Controls
Users will be able to choose whether to enable the integration and decide what information they want to share with the AI system.
Alibaba said user requests and AI-generated responses would not be used to train its models, addressing potential concerns about the handling of personal information.
The feature will be available on compatible iPhones only when both the device’s location setting and the region associated with the user’s Apple Account are set to China.
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Push for AI Services
Alibaba Chief Executive Officer Eddie Wu said the partnership would bring new AI-powered services to users in China.
The collaboration highlights the growing role of Chinese technology companies in developing AI services for consumer devices, particularly in a market where international technology firms face distinct regulatory and operational requirements.
Wang Xiaojie, an artificial intelligence expert at Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, said the partnership marked the first time a major global consumer hardware manufacturer had adopted a Chinese large language model as its primary system-level AI backbone in the Chinese market.
Wider AI Competition
The integration brings Alibaba’s Qwen model into Apple’s ecosystem, potentially expanding its reach among users of compatible iPhones in China.
For Apple, the partnership offers a way to provide AI-powered features tailored to the Chinese market, while Alibaba gains an opportunity to extend the use of its AI technology through a major consumer device platform.
