Apple Partners with Alibaba for AI
2025-02-12 @ 4 PM - #ai, #appleThis is an interesting partnership, since Alibaba’s relatively open model weights are much more akin to Meta compared to OpenAI, Apple’s main AI partner. I think the partnership is mainly for Alibaba’s cloud server infrastructure, since the Chinese giant’s Qwen models are a lot less consequential to Apple Intelligence compared to OpenAI’s previously industry-leading GPT models. However, if Apple did see a specific use for the Qwen suite of models, this would likely be the best way to integrate them, since companies with more than 100 million MAUs are subject to an additional clause in the Qwen License which requires requesting a special license from Alibaba. It’ll be interesting to see the comparisons between Apple Intelligence globally and in China, and I’m curious if a sudden innovation by Alibaba will propel the service to being better specifically in the country.