In brief: Apple is withholding AI-powered Siri from the EU due to DMA requirements demanding unrestricted competitor access to the operating system, despite the company proposing an alternative with data protection guarantees.
Apple is blocking the new AI-powered Siri on iPhones and iPads in the European Union because, according to the company, the EU Commission is demanding unrestricted opening to competing assistants. The DMA conflict illustrates a tension between regulatory requirements and privacy-friendly AI implementation.
Apple has decided not to make the redesigned AI version of Siri, unveiled at the WWDC developer conference, available in the EU on iPhones and iPads. The company views this as a response to demands from the EU Commission seeking to enforce the Digital Markets Act (DMA). The DMA requires companies designated as “gatekeepers” to grant competitors the same platform access as their own services.
Apple argues that the new AI-powered Siri is implemented according to a privacy-friendly approach in which the company itself cannot access user information. Marketing chief Greg Jozwiak criticises the Commission for not taking seriously the privacy risks of “truly unrestricted” access by third parties to the entire operating system and all user information. Apple had already submitted a concrete alternative proposal in the previous year, under which AI models from other providers could answer queries without storing data — however, the Commission rejected it without substantively addressing it.
On Mac computers and the Vision Pro headset, the AI-powered Siri will be available to European users, as Apple has not been classified as a gatekeeper with dominant market position in these segments. The new Siri is intended to be characterised by deep integration into user life — for example through contextual questions such as “Which podcast did my sister recommend to me?” Answering this requires access to emails, messages and contact data, as well as the ability to understand the conversation and subsequently play the podcast.
Analyst Avi Greengart of Techsponential sees potential for AI assistance that users actually want, but warns: Apple announced similar Siri capabilities two years ago, but then had to admit that reliability was insufficient. For 2024, the technical foundation was overhauled, in part using AI models from Google, with Apple emphasising that the company continues to have no access to user data. Success will be measured by whether users find Siri helpful and not intrusive.
Source: www.it-daily.net · Published 9 June 2026
Lumi AI News — AI-assisted curation pursuant to Art. 50 EU AI Act. Paraphrase and classification by Lumi News Pipeline v1.6.5.