Apple Partners With Google To Help Power Its Apple Intelligence Features, Including New Siri

 

Apple is turning towards Google to power its artificial intelligence efforts. The two tech giants have announced a multi-year partnership under which Apple's next-generation Foundation Models will be built on Google's Gemini models and cloud infrastructure. This collaboration will help power future Apple Intelligence features, including a more personalised version of Siri, expected to arrive later this year.

 

The partnership between Apple and Google marks a significant shift for the iPhone maker, which has traditionally developed its core technologies in-house and has been continuously working to reduce its dependence on other companies for hardware parts. Apple's development and implementation of its own ARM-based chips (M-series) for Macs is one such decision, which removed its dependence on Intel.

 

However, Apple seems to be playing catch-up on artificial intelligence, and its Apple Intelligence still lacks compared to the competition. The company not only delayed the release of an improved AI-powered Siri digital assistant but also announced that the head of its artificial intelligence team was stepping down.

Struggling to jump-start Apple Intelligence, Apple might have been forced to turn to established players in the area to help propel its AI efforts. The tech giant was earlier reported to be considering partnerships with AI players like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity, but it has now settled on Google's Gemini.

A joint statement from the two companies says that Apple selected Google's AI technology "after careful evaluation", considering it to be the most suited for Apple's AI ambitions and expects the collaboration to unlock new experiences for Apple users.

 

At the same time, the iPhone maker promised that Apple Intelligence will continue to run on Apple devices and Private Cloud Compute to maintain user privacy.

 

While Apple and Google are direct competitors in the smartphone and software market—where Apple's iPhone, Safari browser, and iOS operating system compete with Google's Pixel smartphones, Chrome browser, and Android OS—a collaboration between the two giants is not new. The two rivals are already engaged in a multi-year partnership where Google pays Apple billions of dollars annually to remain the default search engine on iPhones and other Apple devices.

Neither Apple nor Google have revealed the financial details of the AI arrangement, but the announcement sent Google-parent Alphabet's share prices soaring above a $4 trillion threshold for the first time.