Apple blames DMA for delaying Siri AI in EU

Apple has announced that Siri AI, its new Apple Intelligence-powered version of Siri, will not be available to users in the European Union on iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 at launch. The company attributes the delay to unresolved compliance issues under the Digital Markets Act. Siri AI is still expected to be available in the EU on macOS 27 and visionOS 27, while watchOS 27 support will also be unavailable because it depends on a paired iPhone with Siri AI.

According to Apple, the dispute concerns how the DMA should apply to virtual assistants and AI systems integrated into mobile operating systems. Apple states that EU regulators did not accept its proposed approach for allowing rival virtual assistants to access equivalent functions while preserving user privacy and system security. The company says this leaves no current timeline for Siri AI on iPhone and iPad in the EU.

The legal and technical tension is clear. The DMA seeks to reduce gatekeeper control and improve interoperability, but Apple argues that the Commission’s interpretation would require broad access to private user data and app-level controls. In Apple’s view, such access could allow third-party AI systems to read messages, access files, make purchases, and perform actions across apps without sufficient safeguards.

Apple says it proposed a “Trusted System Agent” as an intermediary layer that would give other virtual assistants access to comparable features in a controlled way. It also proposed an 18-month rollout plan, which the Commission reportedly rejected. For EU digital law practitioners, the dispute highlights a growing conflict between interoperability duties, AI safety, cybersecurity, and privacy-by-design principles under EU platform regulation.