Apple Intelligence has been released in the beta program, but access was limited to the US-origin country setting.
Apple Intelligence is a late entrant in the mobile AI landscape. With OpenAI and other big tech players leading the AI race, Apple has fastened the development process of its in-device AI capabilities. Apple Intelligence's beta program, launched in June of this year, has reached its third iteration, with iOS 18.1 and MacOS 15.1 released on Wednesday. The latest update has unlocked a major access issue for its global test user community.
Earlier, Apple Intelligence required users from anywhere in the world to select the US as their country of origin. Even though the newly built AI software worked fine worldwide, the default country must be the US. Along with this, the default language option available for beta users was US English only. Users who opted for the beta program updates had to choose US English as the default language on Siri to let it function seamlessly.
On Wednesday, Apple changed its release notes, removing the mandatory selection of the US as the origin country. It is now possible to run the Apple Intelligence software from any country of choice. However, users are still required to select US English as the default setting for Siri. Changing the country of origin usually results in convenience-based differences, like the regional format of calendars, phone numbers, and currencies.
It is important to note that Apple Intelligence is not accessible to users in the EU and China. China has some of the strictest digital market policies, making it a risky marketplace to operate in. For over a decade, Apple has struggled to establish dominance in China.
The European Council has introduced stringent regulations around AI, making beta testing a difficult affair in the region. Based on the current scenario, It is highly likely that Apple Intelligence will launch in the EU and China only when its public stable release is finalized. The hardware requirements for artificial intelligence features remain the same for Apple Intelligence, with the M1 chip being the bare minimum.
