Apple Plugs Chinese Firm Pentagon Ties To Beijing’s Military Into iPhone AI

Apple is teaming up with a tech giant the Pentagon calls a Chinese military company to power AI on its phones.

A test version of Apple Intelligence was released with iOS 27.3 Tuesday, and the company began testing its AI features on Chinese users through an Alibaba content filter, Bloomberg reported. The Pentagon added Alibaba to its list of “Chinese military companies” on June 8, saying the firm is tied to China’s military through Beijing’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT).

Alibaba sued the Pentagon on June 23 and denied the allegations, according to Reuters.

Alibaba’s content filter approves ongoing updates to a localized version of Apple Intelligence in China in coordination with the government, according to Bloomberg. Apple’s newest Siri AI features, which depend on Alphabet’s models, however, will not be released there.

Apple and Alibaba each did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.

The Apple Intelligence tools include a test version of Live Rewind for Apple Watch, which listens and records conversations through users’ Apple devices, according to the company’s support page. Live Rewind “recalls what was just said in the last 15 seconds by showing a text snippet on your Apple Watch,” the company states.

Another Apple intelligence feature, Siri Recap, records users’ conversations and generates notes that delete after one week unless saved and can be exported to other applications for review, according to Apple’s support page. Users have the choice to opt out of using these AI features.

“Siri Recap ambiently takes notes on your conversations throughout your day and creates high-level Apple Intelligence–generated summaries that you can use later to jog your memory,” Apple states.

iOS 27.3 also updated Apple’s Health app with more detailed heath tracking capabilities, Bloomberg reported. Data about users’ hearts, hearing, nutrition, metabolic levels and mental health are tracked in the app’s Longevity tab.