Apple Inc. said it cannot currently launch Siri Artificial Intelligence, its redesigned digital assistant, on iPhones or iPads in the European Union, extending its standoff with the bloc’s antitrust regulators. The company said it had proposed an EU-specific approach intended to comply with the Digital Markets Act, known as the DMA, while preserving user privacy by limiting the data available to virtual assistants.
The company said the European Commission did not accept any of its suggestions over the past several months, and that as a result Siri Artificial Intelligence will not be available in the EU as part of iOS 27 or iPadOS 27. A commission representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside normal business hours. Apple has previously objected to parts of the DMA, including rules on outside payments and app downloads from alternative marketplaces, while the commission has said it will not repeal or change the law in response to the company’s complaints.
Apple’s redesigned Siri is designed to answer questions by drawing from what appears on users’ screens, along with messages, emails and photos. Apple said that under EU regulators’ “extreme interpretation” of the DMA, it would have to give any virtual assistant direct access to users’ private data “without the essential protections necessary to keep users and their data safe.” Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of software engineering, said regulators’ “refusal to engage constructively” means there is no current timeline for availability on iOS and iPadOS in the EU, though Apple hopes to bring the product there eventually.
Siri Artificial Intelligence is otherwise being released for developer testing on Monday, and will be available to users later this year in English, as a beta product. Apple said it will still be available to EU users in upcoming operating system versions for the Mac, Vision Pro and Apple Watch. The company also said Siri Artificial Intelligence will not be available in China while it works through local regulatory requirements.
