Following months of speculation, the iPhone maker picked Google’s Gemini generative AI technology to revamp its sluggish Apple Intelligence and Siri AI systems.
In a joint statement on Monday, the two tech giants said Gemini will be the foundational platform on which Apple AI models will be based and that a “more personalized” Siri voice assistant will arrive later this year.
The move appears to supersede Apple’s existing relationship with OpenAI, which currently handles outbound generative AI queries while most Apple Intelligence features and Siri work on-device. It also represents another blow to OpenAI’s GPT system, which seized an early lead in the AI race but has seen its dominance erode with the recent success of Gemini, both in terms of large language model (LLM) performance metrics and its inroads into the enterprise market.
The agreement builds on Apple’s long relationship with Google, maker of the ubiquitous Chrome that is the default browser on Apple devices. Plus, Apple largely does not compete with Google beyond a few consumer hardware device markets, noted Mark Beccue, analyst at Omdia, a division of Informa TechTarget.
“It also acknowledges Google as a leader in this space that’s trusted for the foundational model piece,” Beccue said. “And now Apple doesn’t have to reinvent the wheel. It realizes there’s no money to be made in building models itself.”
The arrangement also enables Apple to focus on its core product suite and avoid being distracted by AI “FOMO” (fear of missing out), said Johna Till Johnson, CEO of Nemertes.
“ChatGPT may be the best-known LLM, but it’s also the least effective based on numerous independent tests,” Johnson said.
Siri and Privacy
A longstanding limitation of Siri is that its voice recognition and other capabilities have been limited compared with those of competitors, such as Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s voice assistant. That is largely due to Apple’s commitment to privacy, which includes restricting Siri’s training to content on its own servers, while Google can mine huge amounts of data across its Search, e-commerce and cloud ecosystem to refine its assistant’s natural language recognition and generation abilities.
Since its founding in 1976, Apple has become the world’s most successful consumer technology vendor without being a pioneer in most areas, but rather refining existing technologies and designing better versions of them, Beccue said. Examples include the iPhone, which followed models from Palm, BlackBerry and Microsoft, and the Mac personal computer line, which followed the IBM PC.
“Apple didn’t invent the smartphone, but it makes the best smartphone,” he said. “Apple has always been a fast follower.”
While Google’s involvement with Apple’s AI systems is expected to improve and expand Siri’s capabilities, Apple emphasized that Apple Intelligence will continue to run on Apple devices and Apple’s private cloud, while maintaining Apple’s privacy standards.
The companies did not disclose financial details of the new relationship, but Bloomberg reported in November that Apple is expected to pay Google about $1 billion a year for Gemini technology.
Meanwhile, Google is a good fit for Apple because, as a long-term partner, it appears to be considerably more stable than OpenAI, where future revenue-generating potential and appeal to businesses remain uncertain, Johnson said.
“Google has a long track record of business acumen, and since AI is key to its strategy, there’s a reasonable probability that its AI efforts will remain leading edge for the next several years,” she said.
