Apple's choice of Google's Gemini to power the next version of Siri was just as expected as peanut butter mixing deliciously with chocolate.
Early this week, Apple and Google put out a joint statement saying that the iPhone maker and the online search giant would partner to bring Siri into the agentic AI era. What this means exactly is uncertain. What we do know is that Google's Gemini AI models will power the next generation of Apple foundation models. Knowing Apple, we likely won't see Google or Gemini branding all over iPhones, iPads and MacBooks. Instead, Apple is likely giving Google the ability to create a bespoke engine for Apple Intelligence. Apple, however, will be driving the car.
"If this is a rom-com, you would say, in retrospect, that this was always going to be the outcome -- it just makes too much sense," said Andy Tsay, professor of information systems and analytics at Santa Clara University's Leavy School of Business.
CNET
Apple's recent deal with Google follows years of the two companies working together to ensure dominance in their respective fields. Thanks to the Department of Justice's antitrust trial against Google, 2022 court documents revealed that Google paid Apple $20 billion to remain the default search engine across Apple devices. This disincentivized Apple from making a competing online search engine and Google was able to glean valuable data from Apple users. The deal also marks an end to Apple's bumpy road to creating its own AI models, at least for now. And Apple's current partnership with OpenAI for Apple Intelligence didn't yield the results fans were hoping for, although things have gotten better. As Google and Samsung continue to integrate AI deeply into their devices, Apple's partnership with Google ensures it doesn't remain behind for another year.
Google and Apple didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.
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Why Google ultimately won out
It's likely that OpenAI and Anthropic heavily petitioned Apple to be the partner to power Apple Intelligence. Past financial partnerships and current technological innovation are why Google likely won out, observers said.
"In terms of technology, I think Google's technology is far superior," said Humayun Sheikh, an early investor in DeepMind and current CEO and founder of Fetch.ai, a company that creates and/or facilitates connections between systems and AI agents. Google bought DeepMind in 2014 for $650 million. "Google probably, I would say, in my opinion, has the most grasp of what's going on in how to train these models and how to put these guardrails," Sheikh said.
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