Tim Cook and EU tech chief hold ‘constructive’ virtual meeting over Siri AI standoff

Earlier today, Tim Cook reportedly held “constructive” talks with EU tech chief Henna Virkkunen as Apple and the bloc sought a way forward in their dispute over the delayed launch of Siri AI in Europe. Here are the details.

A bit of context

During WWDC26, Apple announced that Siri AI would not launch in the EU alongside iOS 27 and iPadOS 27, citing the Digital Markets Act. Shortly after the keynote, the company published a strongly worded statement on its Newsroom, placing the blame squarely on EU regulators:

Apple today introduced Siri AI, an entirely new version of Siri, powered by Apple Intelligence. Unfortunately, due to the Digital Markets Act (DMA), Apple will not be able to ship Siri AI in the European Union with the release of iOS 27 and iPadOS 27. Over the past several months, EU regulators did not accept any of Apple’s proposed solutions to bring Siri AI to the EU while safely supporting other virtual assistants.

Apple’s proposed solution was called Trusted System Agent, which the company described as “an intermediary that would allow virtual assistants to safely access the same features and capabilities as Siri AI for devices in the EU,” as determined by the bloc’s Digital Markets Act.

Apple said it proposed an 18-month transition period that would allow Siri AI to launch while the company gradually rolled out Trusted System Agent, but claimed the European Commission rejected the plan.

In the post, Apple vowed to “continue working to bring these features to the European Union as safely as possible.” However, it made a point of saying that there was no timeline for Siri AI’s availability on iOS and iPadOS in the bloc due to “the regulators’ failure to acknowledge” the risks it says the DMA poses to European users.

The next day, European Commission spokesman Thomas Regnier shot back, saying that he needed to “set the record straight”:

The decision not to roll out Siri AI in the EU is Apple’s and Apple’s only because absolutely nothing in the DMA prohibits Apple from introducing new products in the EU.

And

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