Jan 12 : Apple will use Google’s Gemini fashions for its revamped Siri coming later this yr underneath a multi-year deal that deepens the tech giants’ alliance within the synthetic intelligence period and bolsters Alphabet’s place within the race towards OpenAI.
The deal introduced Monday marks a serious vote of confidence for Google. Its expertise already drives a lot of Samsung’s “Galaxy AI,” however the Siri deal unlocks a big market with Apple’s put in base of greater than two billion energetic gadgets.
“After careful evaluation, Apple determined Google’s AI technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models,” Google mentioned, including that its fashions will even energy different future Apple Intelligence options.
Alphabet has been jostling with OpenAI for the Apple deal, the monetary particulars of which weren’t disclosed.
The iPhone maker had in late 2024 rolled out ChatGPT into its gadgets, permitting the corporate’s Siri voice assistant to faucet into the chatbot’s experience to reply difficult questions.
Apple mentioned there have been no main modifications to the ChatGPT integration on the time, whereas OpenAI didn’t reply to Reuters’ request for remark.
“This seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google, given that (they) also have Android and Chrome,” Tesla CEO Elon Musk mentioned in a submit on social media platform X.
Musk based his personal AI agency xAI that has been attempting to compete with different main gamers within the trade by constructing foundational fashions and spending billions on huge infrastructure.
Monday’s tie-up will seemingly elevate questions on OpenAI’s partnership with Apple. In response to Gemini 3, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman late final yr reportedly issued a “code red” to push groups to speed up improvement.
“Apple’s decision to use Google’s Gemini models for Siri shifts OpenAI into a more supporting role, with ChatGPT remaining positioned for complex, opt-in queries rather than the default intelligence layer,” mentioned Parth Talsania, CEO of Equisights Research.
Google has been firing on all cylinders to counter OpenAI’s early lead within the trade by doubling down on frontier fashions, and picture and video era.
Apple has confronted a sequence of setbacks on the AI entrance after being late to the race, with Siri’s improve getting delayed, top-level govt modifications and the preliminary rollout of its generative AI instruments being met with lukewarm reception.
The newest settlement builds on a years-long partnership that makes Google the default search engine on Apple gadgets – a profitable association that drives site visitors for Google whereas producing tens of billions in annual income for Apple.
News of the deal helped energy Alphabet’s market valuation above $4 trillion on Monday. The stock jumped 65 per cent final yr on rising investor optimism about its AI efforts.
“Apple Intelligence will continue to run on Apple devices and Private Cloud Compute, while maintaining Apple’s industry-leading privacy standards,” Google mentioned on Monday, in a transfer to ease privateness issues.