The EU May Not Be Left Out of Apple Intelligence Entirely
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Although the first iteration of Apple Intelligence is expected to be limited to US English when it lands in iOS 18.1 and the rest of Apple’s software updates later this fall, that’s mostly a linguistic restriction rather than a geographic one.
Even today, folks running the iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, or macOS Sequoia 15.1 betas can activate Apple Intelligence from nearly anywhere in the world simply by setting their Region to “United States” and Siri’s language to “English (United States).” You’ll have to be cool with the American way of spelling “color” and “honor,” but it all works well otherwise.
However, the key word in describing the reach of Apple Intelligence is “nearly.” There are two significant regions that won’t get Apple Intelligence this fall — China and the European Union (EU) — although not for precisely the same reasons.
Not long after it showed off Apple Intelligence at its June Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), Apple told Bloomberg that it would be withholding the new AI features from the EU due to concerns “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.”
The DMA, or Digital Markets Act, is the EU legislation that forced Apple to make significant changes to the App Store earlier this year. In the context of Apple Intelligence, there’s the risk that Apple could be penalized for not opening up its AI features to third parties, including potential competitors. The DMA also prohibits companies from using personal data across multiple services, another core feature of Apple Intelligence.
Then there’s also the EU’s new AI Act to complicate things further, which would force Apple to agree to abide by codes of practice that have yet to be written, much less finalized.
Meanwhile, the situation in China is more black and white. Beijing requires all large language models (LLMs) used by AI servers to be approved by Chinese regulators, and no foreign LLM has yet met this bar. This means Apple has to find a partner in China to replace ChatGPT while simultaneously working to have its own on-device LLMs pass muster with state officials.
Apple Intelligence on the Mac?
While Apple Intelligence won’t come to China until Apple can clear those hurdles, it seems that it may be planning to take advantage of the Mac’s unique status for a limited launch of Apple Intelligence in the EU.
The EU’s DMA only applies to what it calls “gatekeeper” platforms—those large enough to require strict scrutiny. The iPhone definitely qualifies, and while the iPad was excluded at first, the European Commission (EC) eventually decided it also came under the DMA due to its popularity among business users and Apple’s “entrenched and durable position with respect to iPadOS.”
However, the one device that hasn’t come into the EC’s crosshairs is the Mac. That’s not only because Windows remains the dominant platform but also because there’s no real lock-in on the Mac App Store — folks can already install apps from anywhere and even run other operating systems if they prefer.
Since the Mac doesn’t come under the auspices of the DMA, Apple could theoretically launch Apple Intelligence in macOS Sequoia 15.1 in the EU without worrying about antitrust scrutiny — and it seems that’s what it’s planning on doing.
The folks at 9to5Mac have discovered a subtle but important clue in the release notes for the iOS 18.1 and macOS 15.1 betas suggesting that Apple Intelligence will arrive on the Mac in Europe this fall. That’s not so much because of what the release notes say, but rather what they don’t say:
The release notes for the iOS 18.1 beta read:
Apple Intelligence is available on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Apple Intelligence is not currently available in the EU or China.
However, the release notes for macOS Sequoia 15.1 omit any mention of the EU:
Apple Intelligence is available on Macs with M1 and later. Apple Intelligence is not currently available in China.
This likely explains why some folks vacationing in the EU had no problem activating it on their Mac; it wasn’t that they successfully bypassed geolocation restrictions, but rather that those restrictions don’t exist on macOS Sequoia in the first place.
We’re only on the very first beta of macOS Sequoia 15.1, so it’s possible this could change before the final release, particularly since Apple will still have to ensure it complies with the EU’s AI Act. However, many of those provisions won’t come into force until next year, giving Apple ample time to sort that part out.
