Apple expects to add artificial intelligence, as it is called, to the iPhones it sells in China by mid-2025 (Bloomberg News, February 14, 2025).
Apple’s own AI models, which it seems may be initially uncensored, will get an extra layer of software contributed by Apple’s partners in China to impose the censorship.
But to sell these bot-equipped phones, Apple will probably often have to do more than passively watch others engage in censorship: “The Chinese government will be able to direct Alibaba to ask Apple to make changes to AI models when it has issues with the information being delivered to customers. In cases where a customer’s device is still running an outdated model, Apple will temporarily disable AI features until the data is updated to remove prohibited content.”
Add possible surveillance of user files, possibly already happening, to the censorship:
“In some cases, Apple Intelligence needs to tap external servers for additional AI processing, such as when it’s rewriting large blocks of text. For that, the company uses a system it calls Private Cloud Compute—secure servers that rely on Apple’s Mac chips for processing user data. In China, Apple will likely need a partner for that mechanism. Already, the company uses the state-affiliated GCBD to operate its iCloud online storage service in the region.”
“Secure” servers for iCloud online storage which, in China, are being operated by a state-affiliated company?
Why are Apple CEO Tim Cook and other Apple decision-makers helping China censor? It would be better if the firm just abandoned the Chinese market. Even if Apple loses a trillion dollars or whatever, it’s got plenty of other markets in which to make money. It needn’t actively help the world’s worst governments to lie to and manipulate those they govern.
