Apple turns to Google’s Gemini to supercharge Siri, betting on control over raw AI power 🤖

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Apple and Google don’t exactly get along, yet they’ve once again found common ground. Google’s Gemini AI model is set to power the next generation of Siri and Apple Intelligence. This partnership is less an industrial love story than a cold, pragmatic calculation: Google has the most mature AI on the market, while Apple owns the ecosystem and user habits.

A Gemini-powered Siri on steroids 🧠

In practical terms, the next version of Siri will tap into Gemini’s “brain” to better understand natural language, deliver richer responses, and fuel various components of Apple Intelligence, from writing assistance to image generation. Apple isn’t trying to become a clone of OpenAI or Google. Instead, it positions itself as an integrator, selecting the strongest building blocks on the market to enhance its assistant.

This move also sidelines OpenAI, at least on the iPhone, despite the startup being seen for a time as a frontrunner. Apple appears to favor a partner perceived as more stable and already battle-tested at massive scale, rather than a company still under financial pressure and closely tied to the ongoing AI hype cycle.

Behind the scenes, the deal is reportedly worth several billion dollars over a few years, with estimates hovering around $5 billion. That’s still far below the roughly $20 billion Apple already pays Google annually to remain the default search engine on iPhone. For Apple, it’s a way to buy technological momentum without fully diving headfirst into the LLM arms race.

Apple’s take on AI, done its way 🔐

Where Apple wants to draw a clear line is in how user data is handled. Google’s models will be used either directly on the iPhone or through Apple’s “private cloud compute”, its own server infrastructure designed, according to the company, to minimize data collection. Gemini brings the intelligence, but Apple controls the playing field.

Unlike the long-standing search agreement, Apple says it does not directly expose user queries to Google’s platforms, which should limit what Mountain View can learn about you. Still, every interaction—a dictated sentence, a generated image, a rewritten text—becomes a potential data point. Ultimately, trust in Apple’s safeguards will be the real filter.

A partnership under control… or under conditions? ⚖️

For Google, the deal is a double win. Gemini lands at the heart of one of the world’s most lucrative ecosystems, and Apple pays handsomely for access to its AI infrastructure. For Apple, it’s a way to stay competitive without reinventing itself as an LLM powerhouse, while reinforcing its long-cultivated image as a privacy guardian.

But everything hinges on a single word: trust. If you believe Apple’s promise to isolate and anonymize data as much as possible, the Apple–Google duo may not dramatically change your exposure. If you’re skeptical, the only real option may be to disable AI features as much as possible and keep Siri on a strict diet.

So who’s really in control now? 🔮

By teaming up with Google, Apple implicitly acknowledges that the future of AI won’t be built solely on its own chips and models. Yet by retaining control over integration, hardware, and data processing, the company positions itself more as an arbiter than a follower.

The question that remains is yours: how far are you willing to let these alliances shape your digital life, in the name of convenience and “augmented” intelligence? As assistants grow more powerful and more intrusive, the real battle may turn out to be less technical, and far more ethical and personal.

👉🏾 What do you think about this Apple–Google AI partnership: an acceptable marriage of convenience, or a red line when it comes to privacy? Would you use a Gemini-boosted Siri, or do you plan to limit these features as much as possible on your iPhone?