Apple believes the future success of the iPhone depends on the availability of new artificial intelligence features. But tensions between Washington and Beijing may cripple the tech giant’s plans to deliver A.I. in its second-most-important market, China.

苹果公司认为iPhone未来的成功取决于能否引入新的人工智能功能。但华盛顿与北京之间的紧张关系可能会阻碍这家科技巨头在其第二大市场——中国——推出人工智能的计划。

In recent months, the White House and congressional officials have been scrutinizing Apple’s plan to strike a deal with Alibaba to make the Chinese company’s A.I. available on iPhones in China, three people familiar with the deliberations said. They are concerned that the deal would help a Chinese company improve its artificial intelligence abilities, broaden the reach of Chinese chatbots with censorship limits and deepen Apple’s exposure to Beijing laws over censorship and data sharing.

据三位知情人士透露，近几个月来，白宫和国会官员一直在审查苹果公司与阿里巴巴达成协议的计划，该协议旨在让这家中国公司的人工智能技术能在中国的iPhone上使用。官员们担心，这项协议可能会帮助中国公司提升人工智能能力、扩大带有审查限制的中国聊天机器人的影响力，并进一步加深苹果在审查制度和数据共享方面受中国法律管制的程度。

The scrutiny is the latest example of the challenges that Apple has run into as it tries to sustain its businesses in the United States and China at a time of rising geopolitical tensions. Three years ago, the U.S. government succeeded in pressuring the company to abandon a deal to buy memory chips from a Chinese supplier, the Yangtze Memory Technologies Corporation, or YMTC. More recently, the company has been challenged by U.S. tariffs on Chinese-made products like the iPhone, threatening to cut into the company’s profits.

在地缘政治紧张局势持续加剧之际，苹果公司正努力维持其在中美两国的业务运转，而此次审查正是其所面临挑战的最新例证。三年前，美国政府曾成功施压，迫使苹果放弃与中国供应商长江存储科技公司（简称YMTC）达成的内存芯片采购协议。最近，美国对iPhone等中国制造产品加征关税，也对苹果构成了新的挑战，可能会侵蚀其利润空间。

Walking away from an Alibaba deal would have far graver consequences for Apple’s business in China, which accounts for almost a fifth of the company’s sales. The partnership with the Chinese tech company is critical to bringing A.I. features to iPhones in one of the world’s most highly regulated and competitive markets. Without the Alibaba partnership, iPhones could fall behind smartphones from Chinese rivals like Huawei and Xiaomi.

如果放弃与阿里巴巴的合作协议，苹果在中国的业务将面临更为严重的后果，中国市场占据了苹果近五分之一的销售额。与这家中国科技公司的合作对于在这个全球监管最严格、竞争最激烈的市场之一向iPhone引入人工智能功能至关重要。若没有阿里巴巴的支持，iPhone可能会在人工智能功能方面落后于华为、小米等中国本土竞争对手的智能手机。

Officials at the White House and the House Select Committee on China have raised the deal directly with Apple executives, said the three people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media. During meetings in Washington with senior Apple executives and lobbyists, government officials asked about terms of the deal, what data Apple would be sharing with Alibaba and whether it would be signing any legal commitments with Chinese regulators. In the meeting with the House committee in March, Apple executives were unable to answer most of those questions, two of these people said.

据三位知情人士透露，白宫官员以及众议院中国问题特设委员会的成员已就该协议直接向苹果高管提出质询。由于未被授权接受媒体采访，他们要求匿名。在苹果高层与说客前往华盛顿与政府官员会面期间，后者询问了协议的具体条款、苹果将与阿里巴巴共享哪些数据，以及是否会与中国监管机构签署任何法律承诺。其中两位知情人士表示，在今年3月与众议院特设委员会的会谈中，苹果高管对大多数问题都未能作出明确答复。

阿里巴巴将帮助苹果在中国与本土对手竞争。

Washington’s concern about the deal has been heightened by a deepening conviction that A.I. will become a critical military tool. The technology, which can write emails and develop software code, has the potential to coordinate military attacks and control autonomous drones. Worried about a future U.S.-Chinese conflict, Washington officials have tried to limit Beijing’s access to A.I. technology, cutting off its ability to make and buy A.I. chips.

华盛顿对这项交易愈发担忧，是因为日渐坚信人工智能将成为关键的军事工具。这项能够撰写电子邮件和开发软件代码的技术还具备协调军事打击、控制自主无人机的潜力。出于对中美未来可能爆发冲突的担忧，华盛顿官员一直在努力限制北京获取人工智能技术，切断其制造和采购人工智能芯片的能力。

Representative Raja Krishnamoorthi of Illinois, the ranking Democrat on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, said in a statement that it “is extremely disturbing that Apple has not been transparent about its agreement.”

伊利诺伊州众议员、众议院常设情报委员会民主党领袖拉贾·克里什纳穆尔提在一份声明中表示，“苹果没有对其协议保持透明，令人非常不安。”

“Alibaba is a poster child for the Chinese Communist Party’s military-civil fusion strategy, and why Apple would choose to work with them on A.I. is anyone’s guess,” he said. “There are serious concerns that this partnership will help Alibaba collect data to refine its models, all while allowing Apple to turn a blind eye to the fundamental rights of its Chinese iPhone users.”

“阿里巴巴是中国共产党军民融合战略的典型代表，苹果为何选择与他们在人工智能方面合作，这谁也说不清楚，”他说。“人们严重担忧，这一合作将帮助阿里巴巴收集数据以优化其模型，同时让苹果对中国iPhone用户的基本权利视而不见。”

Apple, the White House and Alibaba did not provide comment. Apple hasn’t publicly acknowledged the A.I. deal in China, but Alibaba’s chairman, Joe Tsai, confirmed it publicly in February.

苹果公司、白宫和阿里巴巴均未发表评论。苹果尚未公开承认在中国的人工智能协议，但阿里巴巴董事会主席蔡崇信在2月已公开确认此事。

There is concern in Washington that an Apple deal with Alibaba would set a problematic precedent. U.S. companies could help Chinese A.I. providers reach more users and use the data they collect from those users to improve their models. The risk would be that Baidu, Alibaba, ByteDance and other Chinese companies could then use those improvements to help China’s military.

华盛顿担心，苹果与阿里巴巴达成的协议可能会为未来的合作树立一个问题重重的先例。美国公司可能会帮助中国的人工智能供应商触及更多用户，并利用从这些用户那里收集的数据来优化他们的模型。风险在于，百度、阿里巴巴、字节跳动及其他中国公司可能会利用这些改进来支持中国的军事发展。

To limit U.S.-Chinese collaboration, the Trump administration has discussed whether Alibaba and other Chinese A.I. companies should be put on a list prohibiting them from doing business with U.S. companies, the people familiar with the deliberations said. Defense Department and intelligence officials have also been scrutinizing Alibaba’s ties to the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army.

知情人士称，为了限制中美合作，特朗普政府曾讨论是否应将阿里巴巴及其他中国人工智能公司列入禁止与美国公司做生意的名单。美国国防部和情报部门的官员也一直在审查阿里巴巴与中国共产党以及解放军的关系。

Greg Allen, the director of the Wadhwani A.I. Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank, said Apple’s partnership ran counter to the bipartisan efforts in Washington to slow China’s A.I. development. Apple could be motivated to help Alibaba improve its artificial intelligence system because its A.I. could make iPhones in China more useful, valuable and easier to sell.

战略与国际研究中心瓦德瓦尼人工智能中心主任格雷格·艾伦表示，苹果的合作伙伴关系与两党在华盛顿合作遏制中国人工智能发展的努力相悖。苹果公司可能有动力帮助阿里巴巴改进其人工智能系统，因为该系统可以使中国的iPhone更加实用、更具价值且更易于销售。

“The United States is in an A.I. race with China, and we just don’t want American companies helping Chinese companies run faster,” Mr. Allen said.

“美国正与中国进行人工智能竞赛，我们不希望美国公司帮助中国公司跑得更快，”艾伦说道。

In addition to this scrutiny, Apple’s chief executive, Tim Cook, has faced new criticism from President Trump. During Mr. Trump’s trip across the Middle East this past week, he said he had “a little problem” with Mr. Cook because Apple was beginning to build products in India rather than the United States.

除了面临这些审查，苹果首席执行官蒂姆·库克还遭遇了特朗普总统的新一轮批评。在上周访问中东期间，特朗普表示自己对库克“有点意见”，因为苹果开始在印度而非美国生产产品。

苹果公司首席执行官蒂姆·库克去年参加在北京举行的中国发展高层论坛。

“We’re not interested in you building in India,” Mr. Trump said he had told Mr. Cook. “India can take care of themselves. They’re doing very well. We want you to build here.”

“我们不希望你们在印度生产，”特朗普说他曾告诉库克，“印度自己能照顾自己。他们过得好的很。我们希望你们在国内生产。”

Last year, Apple revamped the iPhone with new A.I. abilities that it called Apple Intelligence. It said iPhone users would be able to use its A.I. product to summarize notifications and gain access to writing tools that could improve emails and other messages. It also revealed an improved Siri virtual assistant that could combine information on a phone, like a message about someone’s travel itinerary, with information from the web, like a flight arrival time.

去年，苹果对iPhone进行了改进，新增了名为“Apple Intelligence”的人工智能功能。苹果表示，iPhone用户将能够使用这一人工智能产品来总结通知，使用一些写作工具，从而改善电子邮件和其他信息的内容。同时，苹果还推出了升级版的Siri虚拟助手，能够将手机中的信息——如某人的旅行行程信息——与航班到达时间这样来自网络的信息结合起来。

Apple struck a partnership with OpenAI to support some of its A.I. abilities. OpenAI’s chatbot, ChatGPT, is currently answering questions when prompted on iPhones in the United States.

苹果与OpenAI达成了合作伙伴关系，以支持其部分人工智能功能。OpenAI的聊天机器人ChatGPT目前在美国的iPhone上根据提示回答问题。

(The New York Times has sued OpenAI and its partner, Microsoft, accusing them of copyright infringement regarding news content related to A.I. systems. OpenAI and Microsoft have denied those claims.)

 （《纽约时报》起诉了OpenAI及其合作伙伴微软，指控他们在与人工智能系统相关的新闻内容上侵犯版权。OpenAI和微软否认这些指控。）

Because OpenAI doesn’t operate in Beijing, Apple needed to find a local partner to give iPhones in China the same performance as those in the United States. The company spoke with several Chinese tech companies before striking a deal with Alibaba. This year, it asked Chinese regulators to approve the A.I. features.

由于OpenAI不在北京运营，苹果需要找到一个本地合作伙伴，以便在中国的iPhone上提供与美国版相同的性能。苹果在与阿里巴巴达成协议之前曾与几家中国科技公司进行过洽谈。今年，苹果向中国监管机构申请批准这些人工智能功能。

Congressional officials were alarmed that Apple had requested approval from Chinese regulators for the Alibaba partnership, two people familiar with their concerns said. Because A.I. is an emerging field, the committee worried that Apple might make concessions or sign an agreement that would make it subject to Chinese laws.

两位知情人士表示，国会官员对苹果向中国监管机构申请批准与阿里巴巴的合作表示非常担忧。由于人工智能是一个新兴领域，委员会担心苹果可能会做出妥协或签署协议，从而使其受到中国法律的约束。

Apple hasn’t provided an update on when the A.I. features will become available on its iPhones in China. During calls with analysts this year, Mr. Cook said sales of iPhones had been better in markets where Apple Intelligence was available.

苹果尚未提供有关人工智能功能何时在中国的iPhone上推出的最新信息。今年在与分析师的电话会议中，库克表示，在人工智能功能可用的市场，iPhone的销量表现更好。

If the deal with Alibaba collapses, there is also a potential knock-on effect because Alibaba is a major e-commerce retailer that could sell and market iPhones, said Richard Kramer, a senior analyst at Arete Research, an investment advisory firm. He said that kind of partnership had the potential to boost the iPhone after Apple’s share of smartphone sales in China fell to 15 percent last year from 19 percent in 2023.

Arete Research投资顾问公司高级分析师理查德·克雷默表示，如果苹果与阿里巴巴的协议破裂，还可能产生连锁反应，因为阿里巴巴是一个主要的电子商务零售商，能够销售和推广iPhone。他表示，这种合作关系有可能推动iPhone的销量，去年，苹果在中国智能手机市场份额从2023年的19%降至了15%。

Without Alibaba, Chinese iPhone users could download A.I. apps, Mr. Kramer said. It would make for a more difficult experience than rivals might offer.

克雷默表示，如果没有阿里巴巴，中国的iPhone用户仍然可以下载人工智能应用程序，但用户体验上相比竞争对手会有些逊色。

“People will still buy their phones, but it will make it harder,” he said.

他说：“人们仍然会购买他们的手机，但这会让做出购买决定变得更困难。”