Vestager: Apple Withholding AI From EU a 'Stunning Open Declaration' of Anti-Competitiveness [Video]

Apple's decision to hold back the launch of AI features in the European Union is a 'stunning open declaration' of anti-competitiveness, according to Margrethe Vestager, the EU's competition chief.

Vestager was asked to comment about Apple's recent AI announcement at Forum Europa. Here's what she said...


Apple have said that they will not launch their new AI enabled features in the IRS environment, and they say that they they will not do that because of the obligations that they have in Europe, and the obligations that they have in Europe it is to be open for competition. That is sort of the short version of the DMA, and I find that very interesting that they say we will now deploy AI where we're not obliged to enable competition. I think that is that is the most sort of stunning open declaration that they know 100% that this is another way of disabling competition, where they have a stronghold already.

Apple revealed the decision to withhold AI tech from Europe last week, after debuting a slew of new AI features for iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS 15 at WWDC 2024.

"We are concerned that the interoperability requirements of the DMA could force us to compromise the integrity of our products in ways that risk user privacy and data security," Apple said in a statement.

The announcement followed a preliminary decision from the EU that Apple is in violation of the Digital Markets Act with more investigations still pending.


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