EU Orders Google to Give Rival AI Apps the Same Android Access as Gemini

[eifelbube]

Is Apple sulking? With Apple, imo, it’s about preserving their privacy objectives. Not releasing Siri ai frees that from that obligation until a solution is found.

Yes indeed, that is what they say.

 

[BaldiMac]

Also, Apple never said that Lightning was limited to 10 years as several posters keep claiming. It took the regulatory pressure from the EU for Apple to stop dragging its feet on USB-C for iPhone.

No one said "limited", but Apple certainly said it was the connector for the next decade.

Lightning, a 'connector for the next decade'- 10 years ago- 9to5Mac

It’s been nearly 10 years since Phil Schiller unveiled the lightning cable as the “modern connector for the next decade” in September 2012.

9to5mac.com

 

[surferfb]

Yes, and in typical Apple penny-pinching fashion inconsistently: The iPhone 17e and Air USB-C port limited to USB 2.0 bandwidth.

I guarantee you that fewer than 1% of non-pro phone users plug anything other than a charging cable into their device. I’m a power user and I can’t remember the last time I did so. Why would Apple spend extra to put a faster port if no one is going to use it?

Not sticking with Lightning on the MBP as of 2015 and the iPad as of 2018 because much smaller customer base for “buying overpriced USB-C cables”. For iPhone, MFi allowed Apple to certify compatible accessories and nicely cash in on the royalties.

The amount of MiFi money Apple made has been reported to be Apple’s equivalent of “change in couch cushions”. It was not the reason Apple didn’t switch.

Also, Apple never said that Lightning was limited to 10 years as several posters keep claiming. It took the regulatory pressure from the EU for Apple to stop dragging its feet on USB-C for iPhone.

Remember how the switch to Lightning was taken by normal customers? Apple was raked over the coals for making a bunch of accessories obsolete and accused of a cash grab. And that was a switch to a clearly better port. Meanwhile USB-C is arguably worse at the job 99.9% of people use it for on iPhone, charging the phone, and only really wins because of its ubiquitous nature elsewhere.

So no, I’m not surprised Apple took its time switching their most important product to USB-C given the reaction the last time they changed their port and promise that Lightning would be the port for the next decade. But I am 100% sure they were moving to USB-C without the EU’s ridiculous mandate to freeze port development for all eternity because the EC apparently doesn’t understand how capitalism works.

 

[surferfb]

Gruber just posted a fantastic overview of the EU’s Madness.

European Commission: ‘Guidance to Google for AI Interoperability on Android & Sharing of Google Search’

What the EC is dictating to Google is just breathtaking in scope.

daringfireball.net

Read the whole thing, but here are some choice quotes (all emphasis is mine):

The EC is demanding that Google create APIs that allow third-party AI assistants to do everything Google Gemini does now, including:

• Control hardware buttons (to invoke the assistant).
• Capture anything on screen, from any app.
• Seemingly unfettered access to microphones and cameras and other sensors on the device.
• Unfettered background operation. Third-party AI assistants must be permitted to execute in the background whenever they want, for as long as they want.
• Execute their own audio models on the digital signal processor, so they can listen at all times for their own custom “Hey Dingus” wake phrases/hot words.
• Google must allow concurrent access to always-on hot word detection. So if you have Claude and ChatGPT and Grok and Meta AI installed, all of them — in addition to Gemini — must be permitted to have always-on audio detection concurrently.

All of that is insane, and I can’t believe anyone thinks that is ok. As I said in my first post in the thread, the EU has jumped the shark! Gruber continues:

Basically, though, the EC is demanding that third-party AI assistants be enabled to become part of the system software, not just apps.

Once again, that is crazy. Gruber concludes:

But it’s hard to imagine Apple accepting most of these terms. Unfettered background processing and access to the microphone, cameras, and sensors? Third-party audio models running on the hardware DSP listening for wake words? Granting third-party assistants unsupervised access to all user data from apps published using App Intents?

Apple unfortunately hasn’t shared any technical details describing its proposal for a “Trusted System Agent” that it shared with the EC last year. But whatever Apple’s vision for the Trusted System Agent is, I don’t see how the EC would deem it compliant with the DMA if they want from Apple anything close to what they are now demanding from Google. There are no checks and balances or oversight that Google is permitted to apply to third-party assistants in this guidance. If Gemini can do something, third-party agents must be able to as well. Because Gemini gets to run in the background as much as Google sees fit, third-party assistants must be permitted to run in the background as much as they see fit. And if those third-party assistant developers — OpenAI, Anthropic, xAI, and Meta — have different opinions than Google on how much CPU usage is appropriate in the background, how much RAM and storage is appropriate to consume, or how respectfully to treat users’ on-device data, well that’s just tough noogies.

There is no universe where Apple offers Siri AI in the EU if that is what is required. Frankly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Goggle pulls the feature. And remember - in the EU Apple/Google won’t be able to tell users about any of this - just “do you want to set Grok as your default AI assistant.” Gatekeepers can’t “discourage” users from hurting themselves, even in the warnings are true.

The EU has lost their minds.

 

[Abazigal]

Yeah, this proposed legislation by the EU looks crazier by the day. I am for Google removing Gemini integration from the EU altogether, and for Siri AI to never be released there, if this is what it means to open said feature up to third party vendors.

 

[Charlie Bonesx]

Or is it just a smooth slab of glass without any buttons or ports.

That’s what an iPhone will eventually be. How long it takes to get there is an open question. And unfortunately it will still have a ridiculous unnecessary camera bolted on to it

 

[MilaM]

Granting third-party assistants unsupervised access to all user data from apps published using App Intents?

This is exactly how AI Assistants work, be it Siri or Gemini. Maybe the real question is if you should give ANY assistant this kind of access.

 

[MilaM]

Curious to see how Apple (and others) will solve USB-C limitation for device thickness/size in the meanwhile. Many devices are already limited by the USB-C port size.

For devices with cameras this should not be a problem. Apple's phones have gotten thicker in the last decade, not thinner.