The European Commission has criticised Apple for its decision not to introduce Apple Intelligence features in the EU
Apple recently unveiled a set of artificial intelligence-powered Apple Intelligence features along with iOS 18. But as it turns out, they won't be available in EU countries. At least, not yet.
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Apple claims that this is due to the Digital Markets Act (DMA). This law, by the way, has already forced the company to make concessions. In any case, until EU users get access to features like Apple Intelligence, iPhone Mirroring and SharePlay Screen Sharing. iPhone Mirroring lets you control your iPhone on a connected Mac, while SharePlay Screen Sharing gives you the ability to share the gadget's screen.
Margrethe Vestager, the European Commission's executive vice president for Europe, has already criticised Apple over the decision:
""So Apple have said that they will not launch their new enabled features in the IRS environment, and they say that they will not do that because of the obligations that they have in Europe. And the obligations that they have in Europe, it is to be open for competition, that is sort of the short version of the DMA. And I find that very interesting, that they say we will now deploy AI where we’re not obliged to enable competition. I think that is the most sort of stunning, open declaration that they know 100% that this is another way of disabling competition, where they have a stronghold already""
Simply put, Vestager believes that something Apple is doing by giving up AI features is an admission that implementing the features themselves would be considered anti-competitive by the EU. This was in response to a Q&A session at Forum Europa, so it's not an official press release or anything like that.
Nevertheless, don't vehemently criticise Apple just yet, as the company hasn't completely given up on launching AI features in the EU just yet. On the contrary, Apple says it is keen to work with the European Commission to try and find a solution that would allow these features to be made available to EU customers without compromising their security.
Source: GSMArena
