Apple is reportedly about to ink a $1 billion a year deal with Google to power it’s long held ambitions to turn Siri into an Artificial Intelligence powerhouse on smartphones, Mac computers, and beyond.
A new Bloomberg report says the previously rumoured agreement is now in its final stages. The deal that would give Apple access to a custom version of Google Gemini.
The model would dwarf the current capacity of Apple Intelligence, the report says. The 1.2 trillion parameter would almost be ten times more powerful than the 150 billion parameter model Apple currently offers users. “The move would vastly expand the system’s power and its ability to process complex data and understand context,” Bloomberg reports.
However, we’re unlikely to hear a big song and dance around the partnership, according to the report, with Apple planing to treat Google Gemini as a “behind-the-scenes” technology rather than adding a “powered by Gemini” label, for instance.
Perhaps that’s because turning to Google would be an admission from Apple that its efforts to transform Siri into an assistant befitting the GenAI era have thus far failed. This agreement wouldn’t mean Apple is giving up entirely, the report says, as the company still plans to develop the technology needed to power its long-term AI vision.
In the short term, it certainly feels like a necessary step to avoid being completely left behind in the AI race. Previously, the company has indefinitely delayed announced Apple Intelligence features that would understand the context of users’ requests by consulting stock iPhone apps like Messenger, Mail and Calendar. The Google agreement would be an expensive stop gap that might allow Apple to continue it’s work to catch up in the background, without further delays in realising its vision for Siri.
The company is already reportedly planning a new version of Siri for iOS 26.4 next year, but it’s not clear if Google’s technology will be in place by that point and will be charged with powering that update.
Read the full article here
