European Commission Vice-President Margrethe Vestager said on Thursday (27 June) that Apple’s decision not to introduce its own artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities in the EU is a “shocking declaration” of the company’s anti-competitive behaviour.
About a week ago, Apple announced that it would not release its AI features in the EU, citing concerns that interoperability required by the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA) could compromise user privacy and security. Just days later, the European Commission accused Apple’s App Store of violating the DMA.
Apple’s move to back away from its AI plans in Europe “is an astonishing and public declaration that it is 100% aware that this is another way of stifling competition where Apple already has an advantage,” Vestager, the European Commission’s vice-president for the digital age and competition commissioner, said at a Forum Europe event.
Short version of DMA [Digital Markets Act]”To operate in Europe, companies have to be open to competition,” Vestager said.
The DMA expects fines of up to 10% of annual turnover, which for Apple could exceed €30 billion based on its past financial performance, with the percentage potentially doubled in case of repeat offenders.
Apple has been under investigation three times by the DMA, which considers it a “gatekeeper” and must ensure it does not stifle competition.
California-based Apple announced on June 10 that the new version of its operating system, which is compatible with many of its devices, will include Apple Intelligence and will also integrate OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
For example, AI capabilities will be built into the voice assistant Siri to help with questions and tasks, and the feature is expected to be released in beta later this year.
Apple Intelligence won’t be a standalone chatbot like ChatGPT, but will be used through a suite of apps, Wired reported, based on the demo.
Lack of interoperability with non-Apple apps could be interpreted as anti-competitive behavior.
Apple’s AI is also unique in that it is vertically integrated: both the hardware and software are custom made by the company.
Some of the computing will take place in Apple’s newly launched private cloud computing, which runs on custom-built servers in the company’s data centers and which Apple says allows for greater privacy.
[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]
