Apple has abandoned plans to launch its flagship artificial intelligence product inside the European Union over restrictions imposed upon it by Brussels.
The company’s new Siri AI system — which will soon be deployed on iPhones and iPads across the United States — will not come to Europe for the foreseeable future due to issues with the EU’s Digital Markets Act.
Brussels has imposed specific restrictions on the company’s phone and tablet offerings over claims that it holds too much of the continent’s market.
It has since ordered Apple to undercut its own products to boost competitors, or face fines of up to ten per cent of its annual global turnover.
In a press release published on June 8, Apple said that the restrictions imposed upon it by the Commission have made releasing its AI products on iPhone and iPad impossible for the foreseeable future.
“Unfortunately, due to the Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple will not be able to ship Siri AI in the European Union with the release of iOS 27 and iPadOS 27,” the company wrote.
“Over the past several months, EU regulators did not accept any of Apple’s proposed solutions to bring Siri AI to the EU while safely supporting other virtual assistants.”
The firm argued that the DMA restrictions imposed on it fundamentally jeopardise the security of its software, putting its users in danger.
It added that while it proposed a possible solution to the EU that would aim to comply with such restrictions while also ensuring user security, it claimed these were rejected.
“Siri AI is private by design and deeply integrated across Apple’s platforms using on-device processing and Private Cloud Compute, which extends the privacy and security of iPhone into the cloud,” it said.
“However, under EU regulators’ extreme interpretation of the DMA, Apple would have to give any virtual assistant direct access to users’ private data — and the ability to directly control other installed applications — as soon as Siri AI is made available in the EU, without the essential protections necessary to keep users and their data safe.”
“Security researchers have already shown that AI systems can be hijacked to steal personal data — like passwords and photos — and to permanently alter files and account settings without a user’s consent. As AI systems gain more capabilities, these risks are quickly increasing in frequency and scope.”
“Given the serious risks to users, Apple designed a solution called Trusted System Agent — an intermediary that would allow virtual assistants to safely access the same features and capabilities as Siri AI for devices in the EU… The European Commission said no. In fact, the European Commission did not agree to any of Apple’s proposals,” it added.
Apple concluded that “given the clear dangers to EU users” of its products and what it called “the regulators’ failure to acknowledge these risks”, it no longer had any timeline for the release of Siri AI on iPhone and iPad in Europe.
The announcement is the latest instance of US tech firms delaying or cancelling product releases in Europe as a result of Brussels regulations.
The Digital Markets Act — the sister regulation of the censorship-enabling Digital Services Act — has proven particularly difficult for American companies, with the regulation imposing asymmetric restrictions on their products compared to European alternatives.
Under the DMA, companies deemed to be “gatekeepers” must sabotage their own products for the benefit of their competitors. Apple has been designated as one of these gatekeepers since the law came into force, having already been fined €500m for alleged breaches of the regulation.
Google — Apple’s main competitor in the smartphone and tablet operating system market — is also facing investigations under the DMA for allegedly keeping its Android software closed off to certain rival companies.
Apple also announced that EU users would be able to use Siri AI on MacOS, as well as its Vision Pro 3D headset, as neither platforms currently face the top-level restrictions of the DMA.