Apple: Limited Functionality for iPhone Users in Europe

American tech giant Apple will not allow iPhone users in the European Union to use some new and highly sophisticated features based on artificial intelligence systems. The reason being is that Apple is “concerned about the impact of various technology sector regulations imposed in Europe in recent years.”

That is, the features of the new system, called “Apple Intelligence,” will not be available in the EU’s 27 countries, which, among other things, will include a huge update to Siri virtual assistant, as well as various tools “to correct texts as they are written and even generate images on demand.”

This is one of the most significant changes announced by Apple in recent years and will allow regular users to discover the benefits of artificial intelligence. But as the American newspaper Wall Street Journal puts it, “Apple is concerned about the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which came into force in the EU in March and imposes various restrictions on technology companies to discourage the formation of monopolies and increase digital competition.” As the Wall Street Journal clarified, “one of the requirements imposed by the DMA is that software from a number of companies considered particularly large and influential, including Apple, be designed with the concept of compatibility, meaning the ability to function on many different operating systems and hardware.”

Apple wrote in a press release that it “fears that these requirements could cause them to compromise the integrity of their products in a way that jeopardizes user privacy and data security.” The company added that it intends to work with the European Commission to find a solution. During the recent G7 summit in Italy, Pope Francis gave a speech, in which he called artificial intelligence a “fascinating and terrifying tool.”