Alibaba's Qwen to integrate into Apple's AI system in landmark partnership
Apple is partnering with Alibaba to integrate the Qwen AI model into its Apple Intelligence suite for users in China. The integration will allow Siri and other system tools to perform advanced text and image processing while ensuring user data privacy.
Why it matters
This marks a critical strategic move for Apple to navigate China's strict AI regulations and maintain its competitive edge in the Chinese smartphone market.
Apple will integrate Alibaba Group's Qwen artificial intelligence models into Apple Intelligence in China, bringing the United States technology giant's long-awaited AI services to Chinese iPhone users.
Qwen-powered features will be available for testing from Nov 4 in the latest iOS developer beta and will be rolled out more broadly in December with the release of iOS 27.3, Apple said on Saturday.
The partnership will allow Chinese users to access Qwen through Siri, Apple's writing tools and its visual intelligence feature, enabling text and image understanding, content generation and analysis of documents and photos.
For some requests, Siri will be able to call on Qwen's broader knowledge to answer directly. Users will also be able to ask questions about selected photos and documents, including PDF files and presentations.
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