Apple has yet to make a deal for an AI partnership with Chinese company Baidu, according to a China Daily report citing sources familiar with the matter. While the talks may still be ongoing, it has not yet been confirmed.
If a deal can be struck between the two companies, Baidu could power some of iOS 18’s generative AI features, but in China only. Generative AI models must be approved by the Chinese government, and Baidu’s Ernie chatbot is approved to be used in the country.
While Apple has held AI partnership discussions to use Google’s Gemini and OpenAI’s ChatGPT chatbots, they are not approved in China. This means the two could be used in the U.S. and other countries.
Apple is also rumored to be working to bring deeper AI integrations to iOS 18’s built-in apps, including Health, Messages, Numbers, Pages, Shortcuts, and other apps. Apple may also bring AI-powered features to Apple Music and Keynote that would allow users to automatically generate playlists.
On Apple’s February earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook said the Cupertino firm was working on generative AI and would share details “later this year.”
Apple is expected to announce iOS 18 and its new features at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June. iOS 18 will likely roll out to the public sometime this September. It is possible that some of the new AI features could be exclusively available on Apple’s upcoming iPhone 16 models, which are expected to boast a significantly upgraded Neural Engine.
