Apple delays Siri AI in Europe, blaming EU rules as regulators push back
Apple's newly unveiled AI-powered Siri will not launch on iPhones and iPads in the European Union this autumn, sparking a direct confrontation between the tech giant and Brussels over digital competition rules.
Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on Monday revealed a fundamental redesign of Siri, transforming it into a systemwide AI interface capable of acting across apps using personal context. The new 'Siri AI' is built on a partnership with Google's Gemini model and promises to find information, manage tasks, and execute in-app actions through natural language.
The EU blockade
However, the feature will not be available on iPhone and iPad in the European Union when it launches in the autumn. Apple directly blamed the Digital Markets Act (DMA), stating that EU regulators rejected its proposed solutions for introducing the AI assistant. Senior Vice President of Marketing Greg Joswiak called the situation "the most evident example to date of the extreme interpretation of the Digital Markets Act by the EU Commission." The company says it proposed a mechanism called Trusted System Agent that would allow third-party developers to use the same on-device user data as Siri AI without accessing it directly, but the proposal was refused.
This is the most evident example to date of the extreme interpretation of the Digital Markets Act by the EU Commission.
Brussels hits back
The European Commission immediately rejected Apple's narrative. Spokesperson Thomas Regnier stated that "the decision not to launch Siri AI in the EU is Apple's and Apple's alone," adding that nothing in the DMA prevents the company from introducing new products. Regnier revealed that Apple had requested an exemption from interoperability obligations for at least 18 months. "That is not an option," he said. The Commission reminded that Apple is designated as a 'gatekeeper' under the DMA for iOS, App Store, Safari, and iPadOS, and cannot close the market.
The decision not to launch Siri AI in the EU is Apple's and Apple's alone.
A clash of laws
The standoff exposes a deeper tension between the DMA's demand for interoperability and the GDPR's principle of data minimization. Commentators note that forcing Apple to grant third-party assistants the same deep access to personal messages, photos, and emails that Siri AI requires would effectively open a user's entire digital life. The assistant is designed to search across all personal context on a device, from text messages about dinner plans to prescription reminders, making it a master key to intimate data.
Enterprise implications
Beyond the consumer features, Apple is positioning Siri AI as an enterprise app layer. Developers can expose app content through App Entities, define actions via App Intents and App Schemas, and map on-screen elements through View Annotations. This could allow employees to ask Siri to find, summarize, or act on CRM records, IT tickets, invoices, or project tasks without opening individual apps. Spotlight's semantic index becomes the enterprise search hook, indexing app content for natural language queries.
Market reaction
Investors were unimpressed by the WWDC announcements. Apple shares fell more than 3 percent on Tuesday, wiping out over $100 billion in market capitalization. Analyst Walter Piecyk of LightShed Partners noted the sell-off began precisely when Apple started discussing Siri, citing concerns about latency and voice quality. The partnership with Google's Gemini model, while significant, did not reassure markets about Apple's position in the AI race.
If you look at when the stock started selling off, it started right when they started talking about Siri. It didn't really provide anything that encouraging to investors.
