Apple (AAPL.US) is reportedly continuing to work with Baidu to develop AI features for Chinese iPhone users in an effort to diversify its risk.

Market IntelThursday, Feb 13, 2025 6:00 pm ET
1min read

Apple is continuing to work with Baidu to develop artificial intelligence (AI) features for Chinese iPhone users despite its partnership with Alibaba, media reports citing sources said. Baidu is developing an AI search function that can handle images and text, as well as upgrading its Chinese Siri voice assistant, as part of the "Apple Intelligence" suite, according to the reports. Apple first announced Apple Intelligence at its WWDC conference last year and said it was working with AI company OpenAI. Apple Intelligence was rolled out in English-speaking countries including the US, UK, Australia and Canada last December. Apple reportedly began testing different AI models from Chinese developers in 2023 to launch Apple Intelligence for the Chinese market and had chosen Baidu as its main partner. Apple has been considering other options in recent months, including AI models from popular AI startups such as DeepSeek, in addition to Chinese internet giants such as Tencent, Alibaba and ByteDance, media reports said on Tuesday. Apple and Alibaba's shares both surged after the news. Apple eventually chose to work with Alibaba to develop AI features after weighing its options, Alibaba's chairman Jack Ma confirmed the partnership at a summit in Dubai on Thursday. Apple's simultaneous cooperation with Baidu and Alibaba shows its multi-pronged strategy in the Chinese market to reduce risks, as it faces fierce competition from local smartphone brands such as Huawei and Vivo. Apple Intelligence relies on Apple's in-house AI models and its cooperation with OpenAI in the international market, with the latter's chatbot ChatGPT playing a more important role in handling complex tasks on iPhones. Apple said it hopes to offer AI models from other companies such as Google in the future. This article is a reprint of Caixin and edited by Chen Wenguang of Zhitong Finance.