Apple is in advanced talks on a near $1 billion deal to implement AI technology developed by Google into Siri, according to Bloomberg. Siri, Apple’s virtual assistant, has so far been relying on Apple Intelligence, the company’s own AI model. But Google’s AI model is widely considered more advanced than anything currently built by Apple, which will continue to pursue their in-house AI programs.
The deal appears to be a short-term solution for Apple, as the company hopes to eventually return to having Siri built on Apple Intelligence. This appears to be a strategic shift in AI for the iPhone maker, and an acknowledgment that overhauling one of its marquee features in Siri will require outside help to keep pace with the growing consumer expectation for AI-powered technology.
How Siri Will Use Google’s AI Tech
For reference, the 150 billion parameters (a rough metric for AI scale and complexity) used in Apple’s current cloud-based model of Apple Intelligence is lapped by Google’s 1.2 trillion parameters. Google’s consumer-facing model Gemini is often cited as one of the top AI models in the world, alongside OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude, both of which were also considered by Apple for use in Siri.
Mitch Ashley, VP and Practice Lead for Software Lifecycle Engineering at Futurum, praised Apple’s balanced approach:
“Selecting a rock-solid model like Gemini minimizes the technical and integration hurdles Apple faces in delivering an AI-powered Siri. It’s a pragmatic move that lets Apple accelerate Siri’s evolution while keeping its focus on user experience, privacy, and long-term control over its own AI roadmap.”
Importantly, Apple’s deal to use AI technology from Google is not a direct implementation of Gemini into Siri as a chatbot. While Siri will still use Apple’s models for some features, it will use Gemini for summary and planning tasks. These functions allow the virtual assistant to understand and respond to complicated requests, and are expected to bring greater sophistication to Siri’s capabilities.
Apple will have the model run on its own Private Cloud Compute servers, keeping user data off Google’s infrastructure. Due to Chinese regulators’ long-standing approach to Google, it is likely the localized version of Siri in China will continue to run without utilizing Gemini’s technology. In response to the news, both companies’ stocks rose, though Apple by less than a percent and Google’s by about 3.2%.
Apple Still in AI Race
Reportedly, Apple is currently working on a 1 trillion parameter cloud-based AI model, expected to be released sometime next year, according to Bloomberg. While the deal with Google marks a moment of pragmatism for Apple’s position in the AI arms race, the tech giant has no plans of accepting relegation. Still, Google is only one of a handful of major AI companies Apple has to make up significant ground on, and none of them appear to be slowing down.
Keeping that in mind, it is expected that Google’s role in Siri’s planned overhaul will not be greeted with much marketing fanfare. Google is likely to be treated as a furtive tech supplier more than a celebrated partner by Apple, despite the magnitude of the deal.
