EU Rejects Apple's Exemption Request as Siri AI Stays Out of the Bloc

EU regulators on Tuesday rejected Apple's request for an 18-month exemption from its interoperability obligations under the Digital Markets Act, after the company said its upgraded Siri AI assistant would not initially be available in the European Union on iPhones or iPads.

What Apple said

Apple told reporters at a briefing at its Cupertino headquarters that it had detailed its plans for Siri AI to EU regulators six months ago, along with a technical proposal for secure third-party access to user data. It said it had offered to introduce an intermediary over an 18-month period so that virtual assistants could access Siri AI safely, but the request was turned down. Executives argued that virtual AI assistants would gain unprecedented access to a wide swath of personal data on a user's device, including virtually all of their communications. "In essence, a commission that's asking us to conduct a very risky experiment on many, many, many tens of millions of users," Apple's marketing chief Greg Joswiak said, "and we only want to ship these capabilities when we can do so safely." Apple also said the DMA had forced it to postpone other features in the EU, including iPhone mirroring to Mac, live translation with AirPods and location-based features in Maps.

Brussels pushes back

The European Commission repudiated Apple's criticism. "The decision not to roll out Siri AI in the EU is Apple's and Apple's only," spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters in Brussels, saying there was nothing in the Digital Markets Act to stop the company from introducing new products in the EU. "Apple was simply unable to develop interoperability solutions that meet essential EU privacy and security standards," he said. "Instead of trying to find a suitable compliance solution, Apple simply made a request to the European Commission to be exempted from their interoperability obligations under the DMA - and this for at least 18 months. That's not an option."

Why it matters

Europe accounted for nearly 27% of Apple's total sales in its last fiscal year, although the company does not break out sales for the EU. The Digital Markets Act aims to rein in the power of large technology platforms, give rivals more leeway to compete and offer consumers more choice; breaches can cost companies fines of as much as 10% of their global annual turnover.