Apple has finally unveiled a version of Siri that people might actually want to use. But millions of iPhone owners in Europe will not get to enjoy it for now—perhaps ever. And Apple wants people to blame the European Union for that.
At its developer conference in Cupertino, California, the company introduced a completely redesigned voice assistant under the Siri AI brand. Shortly afterward, however, it confirmed that users in the European Union will not get it on iPhones and iPads when the new version of the operating system arrives this fall. Siri AI will run on Macs, while phones and tablets will be left with the old Siri. According to Apple, the Digital Markets Act, the European law governing digital markets, is to blame.
What Brussels Actually Wants from Apple
The law is intended to prevent the most powerful technology companies from guarding their platforms like gatekeepers and shutting out competitors. In practice, this means Apple must give rivals access to data similar to the access it has itself. And that is precisely the sticking point. Siri AI is supposed to be able to look across apps, personal data, photos, messages, and videos, and act on the user’s behalf. If Apple must offer the same access to companies such as OpenAI, Google, or Anthropic, that involves an enormous amount of sensitive data.
For Apple, that is too much. It claims that granting such access to outside companies would jeopardize customer privacy and security to such an extent that it would rather leave Europe without Siri AI than build it according to Brussels’ conditions and let others in.
Apple says it came up with a proposal. It calls it the Trusted System Agent, a kind of intermediary between third-party AI systems and Apple’s systems that would give competitors comparable capabilities. The company reportedly needs eighteen months to implement it and wanted to roll it out gradually. But the European Commission rejected the proposal and other ideas as well. Apple therefore announced that there is currently no date for Siri AI to become available in Europe on iOS and iPadOS.
“I want to be completely candid. Apple strongly supports interoperability,” Apple marketing chief Greg Joswiak said at a press briefing. The problem, he said, lies in how strictly the Commission interprets the law. According to Joswiak, Apple would have to give others access to practically everything on your phone. “It would be irresponsible,” he said. “And I can’t imagine anything more concerning for privacy and security than opening up the entire operating system to a third-party system.”
Brussels: Nothing Is Stopping You. You Made the Decision Yourselves
The Commission firmly rejects this version of events. “The decision not to launch Siri AI in the European Union is Apple’s decision and Apple’s alone,” spokesperson Thomas Regnier told reporters in Brussels. According to him, nothing in the law prevents the company from introducing new products. Apple simply failed to devise an interoperability solution that would meet European privacy and security requirements.
“Instead of trying to find a suitable solution, Apple simply asked the Commission for an exemption from its obligations for at least eighteen months. That is out of the question,” Regnier added. He also pointed out that the new Siri itself runs partly on technology from Google. The Commission will not grant an exemption. “European law is not negotiable,” Regnier said. “The Commission will not grant any exemption, just as a police officer will not excuse a driver for breaking the speed limit.”
Commission spokesperson Ricardo Cardoso gave a similar statement to The Verge. The Commission had reportedly been in regular contact with Apple, but the company had not prepared any proposals for a solution that complied with the law. Joswiak denied this and claims the exact opposite: that the Commission did not seriously consider its proposals.
We Have Been Here Before
For Apple, this kind of defense is a familiar refrain. Whenever someone wants it to open up its carefully sealed ecosystem, the company invokes privacy and security. It used the same argument when it withheld live speech translation via AirPods, iPhone Mirroring on Mac, and certain Maps features in Europe. After all, Europe did not receive the original Apple Intelligence package immediately at its launch in 2024 because of the same law; it arrived several months later.
This time, more is at stake. Siri AI will remain out of reach for roughly 450 million users in Europe, specifically on phones and tablets, where, according to Apple itself, more than ninety percent of all conversations with Siri take place. Apple Watch owners will also be left without the feature because the watch requires a paired iPhone with the full version of Siri AI. Moreover, European developers will be unable to test the new features or integrate them into their apps.
What Analysts Say
Experts warn that forcing platforms to open their systems does indeed pose privacy and security risks. Friso Bostoen, a professor of competition law at Tilburg University, confirms this. At the same time, however, he adds that Apple’s arguments do not always stand up to scrutiny. He points to recent court cases in the UK and the US, where judges did not place much faith in the company’s claims.
Jan Penfrat of European Digital Rights sees Apple’s actions primarily as an attempt to exert pressure. “It’s a lobbying tactic,” he says. “The problem is not the law, but Apple’s refusal to open up its software fortress, which stifles competition.”
Michael Veale of University College London gets to the heart of the matter. According to him, Apple is making an exception to its own long-standing principles simply to remain in the artificial intelligence race. “Apple’s privacy and security model is built like a Jenga tower, based on the company’s extreme control over everything, and it risks collapsing as soon as interoperability is introduced,” Veale says. In other words, Apple is perfectly willing to change its own rules so that its AI can see data across apps. But it describes the same access for competitors as too dangerous.
Veale and Penfrat both point out one thing. Apple’s proposal cannot be properly assessed because the company has not made it public. Bostoen also asks why implementation should take eighteen months when the interoperability requirement was clear in advance and could have been addressed during the development of Siri AI.
Who Will Give In First
Apple is playing a high-stakes game of chicken with Europe. The EU is a huge market; last year, after all, it accounted for nearly 27 percent of the company’s total revenue. Apple therefore has a compelling reason to eventually bring Siri AI to Europe, especially as artificial intelligence becomes an increasingly important part of the iPhone.
After all, it managed to do so years ago. When Europe mandated a common charger, Apple ultimately put USB-C in its devices. The question now is whether Brussels will also push harder on Siri AI, or whether it will be the first to blink.
Sources: politico.eu and nytimes.com
