According to an in-depth report from Bloomberg’s technology journalist Mark Gurman, Apple is taking a major step in its ongoing artificial intelligence expansion by planning to enhance its voice assistant, Siri, through the integration of a highly customized version of Google’s Gemini AI model. This strategic collaboration signals a rare and remarkable convergence between two of the world’s most influential technology companies. The agreement reportedly involves Apple paying Google an estimated $1 billion each year in exchange for sustained access to Gemini’s powerful AI architecture. This advanced system will be employed to perform complex cognitive tasks, such as generating detailed summaries of information and facilitating intricate planning activities, thereby significantly extending Siri’s range of practical and intellectual capabilities.
Bloomberg explains that Apple intends to run this specialized Gemini variant within its own secure Private Cloud Compute infrastructure. The decision reflects Apple’s enduring commitment to user privacy and its effort to maintain strict control over data processing. However, not every aspect of Siri’s functioning will depend on Google’s technology. Apple will continue relying on its proprietary machine-learning and language models to support certain Siri features, preserving a hybrid structure that balances external collaboration with internal innovation. Gurman’s report also reveals that the Gemini model operating within Apple’s framework will be extraordinarily complex: it is expected to utilize approximately 1.2 trillion parameters to generate responses. By comparison, the cloud-based Apple Intelligence system currently relies on a model of around 150 billion parameters, underscoring the immense scale and sophistication of Google’s AI technology. This vast increase in parameters means the system can comprehend and reason through significantly higher levels of nuance and contextual depth, resulting in more natural, humanlike interactions between users and Siri.
Apple’s accelerated efforts to secure a partnership with Google are seen as part of a broader attempt to regain momentum in the competitive AI domain. The company has faced challenges and delays in rolling out several of Siri’s new AI-enhanced capabilities. Earlier this year, Apple was reported to have explored potential collaborations with other leading AI developers, including OpenAI — the organization behind ChatGPT — and Anthropic. After considerable deliberation, Apple appears to have chosen Google’s Gemini as its preferred partner, signaling confidence in the robustness and versatility of Google’s large-scale generative AI systems. Importantly, Bloomberg notes that this arrangement is distinct from any potential integration of Gemini’s standalone chatbot interface into Siri, a feature similar to Apple’s ongoing access to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. The current agreement is focused instead on underlying functionality rather than embedding Google’s direct conversational AI tool into Apple’s ecosystem.
As of the latest update, Apple’s Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook affirmed that the enhanced version of Siri will become publicly available in the spring of next year. Cook also emphasized that Apple remains open to pursuing additional partnerships with other third-party AI providers to enrich the broader Apple Intelligence ecosystem. His statement reflects a strategic openness—Apple is advancing its internal AI research while simultaneously leveraging external tech collaborations to achieve near-term performance advantages. Despite the large-scale partnership with Google, Bloomberg asserts that Apple is continuing to develop its own next-generation AI infrastructure. This dual approach suggests that Apple ultimately aims to replace Gemini with proprietary technology once its internal models reach comparable maturity and capability.
In essence, the collaboration between Apple and Google marks a significant moment in the evolution of artificial intelligence within consumer technology. It showcases Apple’s pragmatic recognition of Google’s leadership in large-scale AI architectures while simultaneously reaffirming Apple’s long-term ambition to achieve independence and excellence in its own AI research. If successful, this partnership could dramatically redefine voice-assistant functionality and, more broadly, the entire ecosystem of AI-driven user experiences across Apple’s product lineup.
Sourse: https://www.theverge.com/news/814654/apple-intelligence-google-gemini-ai-siri
