If you’re concerned that Apple’s Siri will just become Google Gemini under a different name, following the AI partnership the pair announced this week, a new report suggests Apple will retain plenty of autonomy over how the AI responds to iPhone users.
The Information has published an in-depth report detailing what its sources say about the inner workings of the new deal, which will see Gemini powering Apple’s Foundational Model, including the new conversational Siri that’s primed to offer much greater personalisation.
According to the report: “Apple can ask Google to tweak aspects of how the Gemini model works, but otherwise Apple can fine tune Gemini on its own so that it responds to queries the way Apple prefers, the person involved in the project said.”
On top of that, The Information says with Gemini providing the backbone, Apple will debut a number of new features for Siri in short order. They will include the ability to help with booking travel, telling stories and creating Notes and, interestingly, providing emotional support.
The report continues: “Another common set of questions Siri has historically struggled with involved emotional support, such as when a customer tells the voice assistant it is feeling lonely or disheartened. In the Gemini-based version, Siri will give more thorough conversational responses the way ChatGPT and Gemini do, this person said.”
Apple had already announced it was planning on a next-generation Siri that would be use contextual information from other apps (such as ETAs of flight’s from the Mail app) and past conversations. Gemini is especially good at this. Apple also had plans for Siri to respond based on what’s on the screen at the time of the query.
However, Apple seemingly had difficulty realising these features based upon its own Apple Intelligence platform, so the company has essentially outsourced them to Gemini. Whether they’ll all arrive with the update planned for this spring remains to be seen.
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