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During the WWDC 2024 conference, Apple publicly announced a major update of Siri for the first time. At the time, the company showed scenarios in which the voice assistant is able to understand the user’s personal context, analyze information from different applications, and act much more proactively. Apple promised that these capabilities would appear in the fall of 2024, but the release was later postponed to 2025. Later information leaks made it clear that the demonstrated version of Siri was never ready for a real launch.
At last year’s WWDC, the company didn’t pay much attention to Siri anymore. Instead of detailed demonstrations, Apple only briefly mentioned that work on a “more personalized” version of Siri is underway, but needs more time to meet internal quality standards.
Now the situation is clearer. Apple has officially announced a strategic multi-year agreement with Google, under which the next generation of Siri will be powered by Gemini models and Google’s cloud infrastructure. The new Apple Foundation Models based on Gemini will become the foundation for both Siri and Apple Intelligence functions this year. In fact, the company has admitted that it currently does not have its own “advanced class” AI models capable of providing the planned level of intellectual capabilities on its own.
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“After careful analysis, Apple has concluded that Google’s AI technology provides the most powerful foundation for Apple Foundation Models and looks forward to the new innovative opportunities it will bring to Apple users,” the tech giants said in a joint statement on Twitter. – “Apple Intelligence will continue to run on Apple devices and in a private cloud computing system, adhering to Apple’s industry-leading privacy standards.
According to Bloomberg’s information published late last year, Apple may pay about $1 billion annually to use Gemini and Google’s cloud services. As the new Siri rolls out later this year, the question is how Apple will reconcile its reliance on third-party AI technology with its strict approach to user privacy.
In addition, the new agreement calls into question the future of Apple’s cooperation with OpenAI. It is still unclear whether ChatGPT will remain a third-party option in iOS or will be gradually replaced by the updated Siri with Gemini. It is expected that answers to these questions will appear in the coming months when Apple starts actively deploying new AI features.
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