Apple is close to fulfilling its dream of bringing CCP-censored artificial intelligence to the people of the People’s Republic of China.
In May, Bloomberg reported that Apple had reached a “Critical Juncture With Tariffs, AI and Services Turmoil” (May 5, 2025). The litany of mounting problems for Apple included the specter of high tariffs, costly judicial and regulatory decisions, “sluggish sales in China,” and repeated delays bringing Apple Intelligence to the iPhone sold in China. Accomplishing the last requires submitting to the party-state’s censorship demands.
Alibaba
“Apple will partner with Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. for the censorship engine…. The AI rollout is hugely important for Apple…. But the company has been held back by the need to deal with local regulators, adding to its existing struggles developing AI technology.”
Also in May 2025, Reclaim the Net noted concern among U.S. lawmakers and security officials, who wanted to know whether Apple’s deal with Alibaba “would give a Chinese tech giant access to data or technical insight that could be funneled into broader state-run programs, including those tied to China’s military strategy.”
Apple executives were unable to answer officials’ questions “about data-sharing practices and any regulatory agreements the company may have with Chinese authorities” in any detail. And that, apparently, was the end of the matter.
The next month, the Financial Times reported that Apple’s AI rollout in China was “being held up by a Beijing regulator, as the tech partnership becomes the latest casualty of Donald Trump’s trade war.” The Cyberspace Administration of China, in charge of regulating and censoring the Internet, was delaying approval of the Apple-Alibaba AI because of “increasing geopolitical uncertainties between China and the US.”
Almost there
Now Bloomberg, Apple Insider and others are spreading the word that CCP-subjugated iPhone users may get censored Apple Intelligence by the end of 2025. “At present, it’s believed that Apple Intelligence is being tested with Apple employees in China. Apple is said to consider Apple Intelligence crucial to the success of the iPhone 17 range, so it is working to provide it in China as soon as possible” (Apple Insider, September 7, 2025).
With unflagging determination, Apple seems to be surmounting every obstacle that could prevent it from profitably extending the range of the Chinese Communist Party’s censorship—and surveillance, since “Chinese law requires that only local companies can store and process cloud data….”
