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Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

reuters.com

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Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#211

Post by lokar »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #157
fnordsensei wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The point isn’t that it’s easy or straightforward to do. The point is that one of the world’s wealthiest companies can spare the resources needed to comply with the regulations of one of the world’s largest markets.

> one of the world’s wealthiest companies can spare the resources needed to comply with the regulations of one of the world’s largest markets At what cost? This is Apple’s second bite at AI. Giannandrea fucked up the first time. I’m honestly with Cupertino on not over complicating it the second time around. If they found the right mix of features and architecture, great, then work to port it to high-bar jurisdictions…

The cost is almost certainly in time, not staff

Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#212

Post by dd8601fn »

anon7000 wrote: post #131
McDyver wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It goes to show that privacy is not a priority. And it should be.

No, this is unrelated from privacy. The issue is that the EU won’t allow the new Siri because Apple isn’t willing to open up the system enough for 3rd party AI agents to get the same functionality.

Functionally the EU is requiring that Apple dramatically RELAX their privacy and security postures.

I’m sure Apple doesn’t want to cave and give OpenAI free access to the spotlight semantic db, the ability see what’s on your screen at all times, etc.

Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#213

Post by ornornor »

eykanal wrote: post #38
afavour wrote: post #2

Apple said "hey, can we not comply with the law", the EU said no, so it didn't launch. Seems pretty straightforward to me. I can see why Apple might want to request an 18 month exemption, there's clearly extra work required to comply with EU regulations. But on the other hand it also feels like a straightforward play for consumer sympathy: let them get used to using it every day for 18 months, then pressure the EU to…

Google eng mgr here. I've worked on a few projects related to compliance with various government policies. This isn't "assign a two-pizza team to it, will be done in a quarter"; these types of compliance efforts can mean completely redoing multiple core systems to handle privacy, wipeout, audit, reporting, per-location policies, etc etc. These efforts can involve hundreds to thousands of people for multiple years. Su…

Okay? I don’t see the problem, these requirements are known from the beginning so if complying wasn’t planned and requires re-architecturing the software to make it happens that’s on the engineering org not on the EU regulator. Unless I’m missing something?

Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#214

Post by MBCook »

ErneX wrote: post #156
wmf wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The new Siri isn't available in China yet either.

Or really anywhere, since it comes out in Fall. Unless you count developer betas as available of course.

It’s also only in English initially.

They can only do so much at once. And Apple is not a “hire an extra 30,000 people“ kind of company.

Apple usually rolls stuff out in stages. This is just an extremely high profile example.

Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#215

Post by theshrike79 »

Jgoauh wrote: post #62

Interesting how the "groundbreaking Private Cloud Compute" cannot rollout due to privacy laws

Yes because DMA doesn’t force 3rd parties to be groundbreakingly secure.

Literally anyone could whip up an AI service, get people to use it and just browse the unencrypted logs for data to sell.

Which is the issue Apple is having.

Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#216

Post by ahartmetz »

disgruntledphd2 wrote: post #187
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> one of the world’s wealthiest companies can spare the resources needed to comply with the regulations of one of the world’s largest markets At what cost? This is Apple’s second bite at AI. Giannandrea fucked up the first time. I’m honestly with Cupertino on not over complicating it the second time around. If they found the right mix of features and architecture, great, then work to port it to high-bar jurisdictions…

> At what cost? This is Apple’s second bite at AI. Giannandrea fucked up the first time. I’m honestly with Cupertino on not over complicating it the second time around. If they found the right mix of features and architecture, great, then work to port it to high-bar jurisdictions. I totally agree with you in principle here, but Apple have a pretty large vested interest in not supporting interoperability here (and in…

That lobbying move has been tried how many times? It hasn't worked once. There is no disagreement along any political lines I can think of.

It's not that we particularly like the EU government here in the EU. But we do like when they make pro-consumer laws.

Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#217

Post by macintux »

gmueckl wrote: post #193
kube-system wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The exemption Apple wanted was not from a privacy law, but from the DMA. They never claimed to have an issue meeting their privacy laws when using their own product, it was other people's products that they said they couldn't guarantee the privacy of. Here's their argument in their own words: https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2026/06/due-to-dma-siri-ai-de...

That's even worse, then. They are not responsible for other companies' products. So this is just another piece of anti-DMA propaganda then. They have been fighting it loudly and with toddler-level arguments since they became subject to it.

A huge part of Apple’s marketing, whether you believe them or not, is that they try to protect your privacy.

The smartphone is probably the most sensitive device most people own. It knows your location always. It has your banking apps. Your password manager. Your instant messages, and social media chats, it knows whether you’re walking, or driving, or talking on the phone, and to whom.

Once Apple allows any other vendor to vacuum all of that intensively private information out of an iPhone, Apple becomes indirectly responsible for potentially massive privacy breaches.

Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#218

Post by spullara »

simjnd wrote: post #185
jandrewrogers wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The technical problem is nothing like exchanging data with fitness trackers. One of the issues here is that there are many people with strong opinions that don't understand the thing they have strong opinions about. Which is the normal state of human affairs.

Indeed but you ignore my second paragraph: they have developed (and 3rd-party audited) a way to handoff all the data (parts of your Personal Context, etc.) to their cloud servers in a privacy preserving way on-device. Why couldn't the same process could be used to handoff the data to a 3rd-party AI provider? (genuine why, if you have an understanding of the thing you have a strong opinion about I'd genuinely apprecia…

The 3rd party firm is the one that wants the data. No need for someone to steal it from them.

Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#219

Post by JumpCrisscross »

ornornor wrote: post #213
eykanal wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Google eng mgr here. I've worked on a few projects related to compliance with various government policies. This isn't "assign a two-pizza team to it, will be done in a quarter"; these types of compliance efforts can mean completely redoing multiple core systems to handle privacy, wipeout, audit, reporting, per-location policies, etc etc. These efforts can involve hundreds to thousands of people for multiple years. Su…

Okay? I don’t see the problem, these requirements are known from the beginning so if complying wasn’t planned and requires re-architecturing the software to make it happens that’s on the engineering org not on the EU regulator. Unless I’m missing something?

The point is complying with the DMA from the outset could mean having to launch a year later everywhere. Skipping the EU makes sense in a fast-moving market (if you’re designated as a gatekeeper).

Re: Apple decided not to roll out Siri in EU after denied request for exemption

#220

Post by square_usual »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #179
jefftk wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Laws and strategy are not fixed, and public bickering is part of how they get optimized.

That’s fair. Apple bickers in the EU and U.S. It doesn’t in China. I have a clear preference for one set of political systems.

They aren't releasing it in China either.
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