Siri: Why Apple is resisting opening up more language assistants

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The EU’s Digital Markets Act forces Apple to allow more voice assistants. What the IT group argues against in talks with the EU.

 

Up to the last minute in Brussels, Apple apparently opposed the provisions of the Digital Markets Act (DMA) that “big players” such as the iPhone group would have to allow alternatives to their services in the future. According to an e-mail obtained by an NGO, this particularly applies to language assistants. Correspondence with the EU Commission gives an insight into how Apple sees itself when it comes to Siri and how the competitors from Google and Amazon are seen in Cupertino.

Apple’s lobbyists warn in the mail strongly warns that allowing additional language assistants in addition to Siri would result in a significant data protection problem. Alexa and Google’s language assistant can already be run on Apple devices today – but only in their apps and not through direct voice activation as on the manufacturers’ own devices. On iPhone, iPad, Mac and Co., however, only Siri reacts to voice activation. According to the specifications of the DMA, this should change in the future.

Apple argues that the Siri integration in iOS, for example, reads text to the blind that may contain sensitive security and financial information. Allowing other voice assistants allows them to permanently listen to the device’s microphone in the background. The market position of the competitors would also be strengthened and they would have access to even more user data.

However, Apple does not see its own virtual assistant, Siri, as a standalone solution, but as an interface of the operating system. The IT group also emphasizes its efforts in data protection, be it through local processing of the voice input on the device and the fact that voice fragments transmitted to the server are not associated with the user’s Apple ID, but are assigned via a randomly generated identifier . However, Apple has also had to contend with criticism of data protection in the past. A bug in iOS 15 allowed Apple employees to listen to Siri audio recordings.

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Apple sees the EU’s claim that large manufacturers must also allow competitors on their platforms, also covered by the new smart home standard Matter, which is to be introduced in autumn. As a result, devices from other smart home manufacturers could also be addressed via Siri in the future. In addition to the e-mails, there were also meetings with employees of the EU Commission in the spring, where Apple explained its point of view. Apparently it was of no use. The rule has not been changed.