Apple withholds AI-powered Siri from EU after Commission rejects exemption bid

Apple has opted not to launch its upgraded, AI-driven Siri in the European Union after the European Commission rejected the company’s request for an exemption from the bloc’s regulatory requirements. According to the Commission, Apple failed to bring the assistant into compliance with EU rules, leaving the company to choose between re-engineering the product for the European market or keeping it out entirely — and it chose the latter.

The standoff extends a pattern that began with Apple’s delayed rollout of Apple Intelligence in Europe, where the company has repeatedly argued that interoperability and data-sharing obligations under rules like the Digital Markets Act conflict with its integrated product design and privacy posture. Regulators counter that gatekeepers cannot ship features that entrench their platforms while sidestepping obligations that apply to competitors.

The practical upshot is a widening feature gap between what Apple ships in the EU and elsewhere, and a test case for whether withholding products becomes Big Tech’s default response to European regulation. If other vendors follow suit, EU users may increasingly trade access to cutting-edge AI features for the protections regulators are enforcing — an outcome both sides will point to as proof of the other’s intransigence.