Apple Responds to Qwen Manual Deletion; Xiaomi Establishes Embodied AI Department
Apple customer service clarified that the integration of Alibaba's Qwen LLM with Apple Intelligence on Mac has not launched in mainland China after a support document was briefly posted and deleted. Additionally, Xiaomi has reportedly established a new Embodied AI and Application Department led by former ByteDance executive Kong Tao. Apple's potential integration of Qwen highlights its strategy to partner with local AI providers to comply with Chinese regulations, while Xiaomi's restructuring signals an aggressive push into the rapidly growing embodied AI and robotics market. The deleted Apple document was titled "Using Qwen with Apple Intelligence on Mac," and customer service stated no official project release notification has been received. Xiaomi's new department integrates multiple existing teams, including Chen Long's Vision-Language-Action (VLA) team and Cai Rui's robotics division.
## BACKGROUND
Tongyi Qianwen (Qwen) is Alibaba Cloud's flagship large language model family, serving as a major Chinese alternative to Western AI models. Embodied AI refers to artificial intelligence systems integrated into physical bodies, such as robots or autonomous vehicles, allowing them to interact directly with the physical world.