Apple’s AI Partnership Choice: What the Google Gemini Deal Reveals
Apple’s integration of Google’s Gemini models into its recently upgraded Siri may be just another tech industry collaboration on the surface, but hidden within Monday’s announcement are some valuable insights into how Apple views large foundation models.
Announced Monday, the multi-year agreement is a rare peek into how Apple, notoriously secretive when it comes to AI partnerships, sizes up large language models. More importantly, how Apple made this decision can serve as a Gemini AI deal explained for enterprises shopping for AI.
The implications here are significant. Apple had been actively spotlighting ChatGPT across its devices dating back to late 2024, positioning OpenAI as the poster child of the Apple Intelligence suite. To most onlookers, this was a partnership set in stone.
Google’s Gemini being named Apple’s foundation model of Apple Google Gemini deal. While OpenAI will maintain presence in the Siri ecosystem, per Parth Talsania, CEO of Equisights Research, its use has been dialed back significantly. ChatGPT will power “follow-up requests that are more advanced” rather than Siri’s primary layer of intelligence.
But most notable about Apple’s announcement is why.
Apple said it chose Gemini because, after evaluating both foundation models, Google “provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models” in a joint statement. Notice the specificity of that language. Cost was not mentioned. Neither was ease of integration or end-user ecosystem fit. Apple positioned this as a merits-based decision between two OpenAI Apple partnerships.
ChatGPT was added to Siri just over a year ago, with Apple branding it as the go-to model for advanced queries. Apple maintains that it made “no major changes” to Siri’s integration with ChatGPT then, but the playing field has obviously changed since.
