Alibaba’s Qwen artificial intelligence model will join the Apple Intelligence suite for devices in China. The Cyberspace Administration of China granted regulatory approval for the integration. This partnership allows Apple to offer compliant generative AI features on its hardware.
The collaboration embeds Qwen’s text and image generation directly into iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS. Apple must use local providers because services like OpenAI are unavailable in China. Reports indicate Apple will also partner with Baidu for specific AI functions.
The deal gives Alibaba’s AI model direct access to hundreds of millions of Apple users. This marks a major shift from Alibaba's previous focus on enterprise clients. Alibaba’s U.S.-listed shares rose following the announcement.