Apple has trained a large language model specifically for the China market, three people familiar with the matter said, a departure from the iPhone maker¡¯s strategy of relying on third-party models to power AI features in the country.

The AI model was developed in partnership with Alibaba Group and trained with the Chinese ?tech giant¡¯s support, the people said, declining to be named as the information is sensitive and not public.

Apple¡¯s training of its ?own ?China-specific model has not been reported before. The company had previously leaned toward?domestic partners¡¯ models to ?bring generative AI to iPhones and other devices sold in China, where U.S. models such as Anthropic¡¯s Claude and OpenAI¡¯s ChatGPT, which Apple pairs with its own technology in its home market, are not available.