Menu
Sign In Search Podcasts Libraries Charts People & Topics Add Podcast API Blog Pricing
Podcast Image

The Big Tech Show

WWDC: Why Apple says EU rules are blocking its biggest AI upgrade

11 Jun 2026

Transcription

Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.

Chapter 1: What is the significance of Apple's AI upgrade at WWDC?

1.178 - 31.838

Let's be honest. Most HR platforms aren't exactly a joy to use. Deal's different. It's AI native, keeps you compliant, and grows with your team, whether you're five people or 50,000. HR, IT, and payroll on one platform that just works. See for yourself at deal.com. That's D-E-E-L dot com slash big tech. The old bet builders hanging by a thread here. Relax. Relax.

0

Chapter 2: How is Apple's Siri AI expected to change user experience?

32.038 - 57.105

They still need one more go. Well, if it loses, NoviBet's got you covered. NoviBet is the home of the bet builder this World Cup. From goal scorers to cards, get the best value on every match. Plus, get money back as a free bet if your bet builder loses on the biggest game every single day. Join today and get 70 euros in free bets. NoviBet. More power to you.

0

58.638 - 65.944 Adrian Weckler

This is an Irish independent podcast. You are listening to The Big Tech Show with Adrian Weckler, sponsored by Deal.

0

Chapter 3: Why won't Siri AI be available in the European Union?

66.445 - 87.143 Adrian Weckler

Deal lets you hire, manage, pay and equip anyone, anywhere. Visit deel.com slash bigtech. This is so offensive to Apple. They're taking the position of being the champions of privacy and security here. So if they were to grant access, maybe that would be the same as...

0

87.123 - 115.568 Adrian Weckler

say Metis WhatsApp or OpenAI or Anthropic Cloud, being allowed to go into parts of the iPhone that Apple would never allow other software to go into. Because for Siri AI to work, it has to have access to all of your fundamental information. And typically that's something that Apple trades on not doing for other companies. Hello, and you're welcome to The Big Tech Show with me, Adrian Weckler.

0

115.588 - 119.593 Adrian Weckler

Now, I'm over in California at Apple's big software event, the Worldwide Developer Conference.

0

Chapter 4: What is the conflict between Apple and the European Commission?

119.633 - 143.532 Adrian Weckler

That's the huge annual event where they explain what's going to happen to our iPhones, iPads, Macs, and all the software bits in between. Now, this year, there has been one main topic, one big question. Has Apple gotten its AI act together? What is that? How will it work? How will it apply to your everyday use of your iPhone or your Mac or your watch or your iPad?

0

143.813 - 172.48 Adrian Weckler

And the big story that emerged, other than the details from its Siri AI, was that most of it won't come to the European Union. And it's for the same reason as before, because Apple has a major, major conflict with the European Commission over the Digital Markets Act, which it says is ruining innovation and is stopping people in Europe from getting the best features. But in this case,

0

Chapter 5: How does Apple's privacy-first approach impact Siri AI?

172.46 - 191.518 Adrian Weckler

What it means is that from this September, when Siri AI goes live in Europe, you won't be able to get it. Rather, the European Union won't be able to get it on your iPhone or your iPad or your Apple Watch. You will be able to get it. on your Mac or for anyone who has a Vision Pro.

0

191.598 - 217.278 Adrian Weckler

I'm going to unpack this and some other things from the conference here with Ben Wood, formerly of CCS Insight and now of FDM CCS Insight. Ben, you're very welcome back to the podcast. Thank you very much, Adrian. Great to be here. So I was in a briefing with Greg Josiak, who's the global head of marketing, Jos, as he's known. And he was very, very forthright.

0

Chapter 6: What are the implications of the Digital Markets Act for Apple?

217.298 - 247.385 Adrian Weckler

And he was scathing about the European Commission, about this conflict that they have, which has led them not to release Siri AI into the EU. And he said that the reason... is because the Digital Markets Act would require them, if they launch it on an iPhone, to allow every other virtual assistant or every other piece of software to grant access to the iPhone in the same way as Siri AI would.

0

247.405 - 257.901 Adrian Weckler

And you might just give us a bit of context as to what Siri AI does, because it's a step change in terms of what it can do on your iPhone, right?

0

258.522 - 275.898 Ben Wood

Absolutely. So Siri to date has been a relatively basic voice interface for the iPhone. You could ask basic questions and what's the time set a time or a bit like Amazon's Alexa used to be. And Apple has made quite a few promises about where Siri was going to go.

0

275.958 - 288.529 Ben Wood

A couple of years ago, they made some bold statements and then they had to do a bit of a mea culpa at this event last year and say, we're not quite ready, but we are going to have news for you in 2026. And here we are.

0

Chapter 7: What challenges does Apple face with EU regulations?

288.509 - 313.739 Ben Wood

And what Apple has done has completely re-engineered the Siri experience. It's branded its Siri AI just to differentiate it. I think it'll just remain basically Siri to most consumers. And it's a much, much deeper implementation of Siri, effectively giving you an AI layer right across every aspect of your iPhone and your other Apple products and linking all of those together.

0

313.779 - 334.209 Ben Wood

So that context when you ask for some support, like, for example, ask your... iPhone, you ask Siri, can you find some information about a conversation I had with Adrian about some book he recommended, and I think it was a couple of weeks ago when we were in California, it would go off and it would spy to your device and it would find that. So it's deeply, deeply now woven into the platform.

0

334.229 - 341.32 Adrian Weckler

And that could be in messages, it could be in mail, it could be in a lot of places in your iPhone that you might use.

0

341.68 - 344.925 Ben Wood

Absolutely, and that's what's so clever. And this is where I think...

0

Chapter 8: What is the future of Apple's leadership after Tim Cook?

344.905 - 372.263 Ben Wood

You know, for all of the kind of missteps by Apple with AI, on paper, it still has a very strong position. But when it's as deeply integrated into the stack that Apple has, which bridges across the hardware, the software, and the services layer, you can understand why tensions start to emerge if the EU are saying, if you are putting it that deeply into the device...

0

372.243 - 383.896 Ben Wood

Other people should be allowed that really, really granular access. And that's philosophically incompatible with Apple's whole approach to the way it does things.

0

383.916 - 411.449 Adrian Weckler

Now, we should say that the European Commission has come out and responded to this. And they basically are saying, look, this is actually about competition. Apple wants to launch a major new feature that itself describes competition. as something that's going to be here in our lives for years to come. And it is essentially saying that it should get an exemption from our regulation on this.

0

411.67 - 425.807 Adrian Weckler

That's obviously a position that Apple takes a lot of issue with. But just to go to your point about why this is so offensive to Apple, they're taking the position of being the champions of privacy and security here.

0

425.787 - 456.571 Adrian Weckler

What they seem to be saying is that if they were to grant access, maybe that would be the same as, say, like Metis WhatsApp or OpenAI or Anthropic Cloud or Grok being allowed to go into parts of the iPhone that Apple would never allow other software to go into. Because for Siri AI to work... it has to have access to all of your fundamental information on your phone.

456.672 - 465.987 Adrian Weckler

And typically that's something that Apple trades on not doing for other companies. Like privacy and security are its biggest hallmarks, right?

465.967 - 483.334 Ben Wood

Absolutely. It's part of Apple's DNA. It's a central pillar to the way it markets all of its products, the way it markets the iPhone as its kind of flagship product. It's focused around privacy. And basically, they don't want other people poking around in the depths of the iPhone when they've made a commitment to privacy.

483.314 - 493.233 Ben Wood

And across all of the information you have stored across all your Apple devices, iCloud, wherever, they've made a commitment to their users that that's not going to happen. They themselves stand up and say, we can't even see it.

493.594 - 517.992 Ben Wood

You know, we have created this and engineered it on the basis that it will either reside on the device and only stay on the device, or it will go into Apple's secure cloud, which is also ring-fenced. And... I think it's a real impasse now because for Apple, they won't do that. Now, they would say, well, we've opened up APIs. Developers can use some aspects of AI, but in a very controlled manner.

Comments

There are no comments yet.

Please log in to write the first comment.