An Apple store in Shanghai Photo: VCG

Apple has removed a guide saying Mac users in Chinese mainland ‌can connect Alibaba's Qwen artificial-intelligence service, the Global Times found on Sunday. 

An Apple customer‑service representative confirmed the page’s removal to the Global Times but gave no reason behind the move.

Apple Intelligence has been formally integrated into Alibaba's Qwen model on macOS, according to Apple's Chinese website on Saturday.

A screenshot from Apple’s Mac user‑guide shows that once enabled, Siri can conduct in‑depth photo and document analysis with Qwen, while the native writing tool generates text and images from user prompts. As an example, users may tell Siri to ask Qwen to compose a poem. The Qwen extension runs on macOS 26.6 or later versions, available for users located in Chinese mainland or devices purchased in the region.

The shift comes amid the roll‑out of Apple’s much‑hyped artificial‑intelligence services in the Chinese mainland.

“The takedown of the support‑guide page might signal pending tweaks to technical details amid ongoing regulatory progress,” Liu Dingding, a veteran tech analyst, told the Global Times on Sunday.

On July 15, China's cyberspace regulator published its latest registration list for generative AI services, under which seven on-device generative AI services for mobile phones, including "Apple Intelligence," completed registration. The filing lists Apple Technology Development (Shanghai) Co as the registrant for "Apple Intelligence," according to the official WeChat account of Cyberspace Administration of China. 

Alibaba's Qwen model would be integrated into Apple Intelligence across Apple's iPhone (iOS), iPad (iPadOS), Mac (macOS) and Vision Pro (visionOS) operating systems in China, Reuters reported in July.