Apple has developed a proprietary large language model for the Chinese market with technical support from Alibaba, moving away from relying solely on third-party AI systems for Apple Intelligence features in the country. Chinese regulators cleared the model for deployment, making Apple the first foreign company approved to offer its own proprietary AI model to mainland Chinese consumers. The model is expected to operate alongside existing partner systems, including Alibaba’s Qwen and Baidu’s search technology, as part of a dual-track strategy, with rollout planned in the coming months.
