TMTPOST -- Baidu, Inc., is still a partner for Apple Inc. to develop artificial intelligence (AI) features in China even though the iPhone maker found a new local partner to help rollout of the features, The Information reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Credit：Xinhua News Agency

Baidu’s length as a partner is its development of an AI-powered search feature that can handle images and text and upgrades to the Chinese version of Siri voice assistant, as these features are part of a suite of functions known as Apple Intelligence, Apple’s advanced personal AI system, according to the aforementioned sources.

Earlier Thursday, Alibaba Group Chairman Joseph Chung-Hsin Tsai is joining hands with Apple to offer AI features on iPhone in China. Apple will Alibaba’s AI technology to power iPhones in China, Tsai spoke during a panel at the World Governments Summit in Dubai. “Apple has been very selective, and talked to a number of companies in China. And in the end, they choose to do business with us. They want to use our AI to power their phones,” Tsai said.

Baidu on Thursday announced it will make its AI chatbot Ernie Bot for free to use starting April 1. Besides, the Chinese leading search engine operator plans to release an advanced search function on the same day. That function, which is said to include upgraded reasoning capability, will also be available to users at no cost.

Apple recently started working with Alibaba to offer AI features on its devices such as the iPhone in China, The Information reported reported on Tuesday. The report suggested the partnership made significant progress as two companies have submitted the AI features they co-developed for regulatory approval.

Apple last year chose Baidu to be the primary partner for rollout of AI features in China but Baidu’s AI models failed to meet Apple standards, so the iPhone maker began to weigh other optional Chinese models developed by Tencent, ByteDance, Alibaba and DeepSeek, according to the report. It said Apple didn’t select DeepSeek model for the upstart lacked the manpower and experience to serve a large customer like Apple.

Apple was dissatisfied with different Chinese-developed AI models for their ability to understand user intentions and incorporate their real-world phone usage into the generated responses, while Alibaba, as China’s top e-commerce company with more personal data on Chinese consumers than domestic peers, created AI models that can help Apple Intelligence to deliver more customized services to users in China, per the sources.

The Information commented on Thursday that Apple’s cooperation with both Baidu and Alibaba shows how the iPhone maker is hedging its bets by entering into non-exclusive agreements with more than one AI partner in China.

Apple introduced Apple Intelligence at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in last June, and the AI system is now available in U.S. and six other countries for English version. Apple said last month it will release a simplified Chinese version in April. But it’s still unclear when Apple Intelligence can be available for users in China for Apple has to obtain regulatory approval for launch of the AI software.

Apple was reported in December it had formally partnered with Baidu to launch Apple Intelligence in China in 2025, but two companies have clashed over use of iPhone user data to improve models. Baidu’s large language models (LLMs) were said to have struggled to under stand prompts and provide accurate response to common scenarios posed by iPhone users. Reuters reported that month Apple was in talks with tech giant Tencent and ByteDance, flirting with the idea of integrating. Apple was discussing with Zhipu AI about deployment of the Beijing-based unicorn’s large model into iPhones sold in China, Chinese news media outlet Yicai learned the same month.