Apple is reportedly opposing European efforts to require Google to access the services of its AI competitors.
As Reuters reported on Wednesday (May 13), the European Commission (EC) is seeking feedback on measures that would help Google comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Earlier this year, the EC announced that it plans to scrutinize whether Google’s artificial intelligence capabilities comply with the law.
“Artificial intelligence tools are transforming the way we find and receive online information on our smartphones, and even the way we interact with our devices,” Teresa Rivera, EC’s executive vice president for a clean, fair and competitive transition, said at the time. “This creates new opportunities. We want to maximize the potential and benefits of this significant technological change by ensuring the playing field is open and fair and not tilted in favor of the few.”
Google said these proposed measures – which would allow competing AI services to work with Google’s apps to perform actions such as sending emails and ordering food – violate important privacy and security protections for European users.
Apple said in a filing with the EC that it has a vested interest in the case given that it uses its own operating system for its devices, highlighting the broader implications for how platforms must deal with third-party AI access, the Reuters report added.
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The proposed measures “raise urgent and serious concerns. If confirmed, they would pose significant risks to the privacy, security, and safety of our users, as well as the integrity and performance of our devices,” Apple said in a filing, according to Reuters.
“These risks are particularly acute in the context of rapidly evolving AI systems whose functionality, behavior, and threat vectors remain unpredictable, as we are seeing time and time again today,” the company added.
According to Reuters, Apple also had doubts about the EC’s technical expertise and the purpose of its purported “redesign” of its operating system.
“We are replacing the judgment made by Google engineers with our own judgment based on less than three months of work,” Apple said in a statement. “This is all the more dangerous given that the only value discernible from the DMs guiding this effort appears to be open and free access.”
