Apple has confirmed speculation that it will work with Google’s Gemini models to help power new artificial intelligence (AI) features across its products, including Siri, in a multi-year partnership expected to begin later this year.

The company confirmed the move to CNBC’s Jim Cramer in this statement: “After careful evaluation, we determined that Google’s technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and we’re excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for our users,” the company said.

What problem is Apple solving?

Apple has been working to build its own generative AI (genAI) models with which to power advanced features across its platforms, including for Apple Intelligence and Siri. The company first announced a wave of improvements — including contextual intelligence in Siri — at WWDC 2024.

But Apple was unable to keep its original deadline and, after months of management changes, has clearly decided to work with Google to power some of the new features. The partnership has been rumored since last summer, though it is also correct that Apple has been working with others, such as OpenAI.

In November, reports claimed Apple would pay Google to provide a kind of white-label version of Google Gemini AI that will run securely on Apple’s own Private Cloud Compute servers. Gemini will provide query and summary capabilities, but the service will be branded as an Apple service — albeit boosted by Cupertino’s own privacy features. This is likely to be the first of a small number of partnerships; the company is also thought to be on the cusp of reaching similar deals in China. 

Gemini + Apple Intelligence + App Intents = ?

Morgan Stanley in December fleshed out a few potential details about a Google Gemini partnership. The analysts believe Apple will become the leading distributor of AI-capable devices, and predict more agentic AI features, such as enabling voice activation of features from third-party apps — potentially including App Intents.

While the Apple statement does describe a “multi-year” partnership, it is quite reasonable to expect that Apple will continue working on its own Apple Intelligence models for future deployment. It is also true that as genAI services inevitably become commoditized, Apple might see partnerships augmented by its own operating systems, hardware, and approach that will generate more profitable success in the long run. That’s particularly true as its hardware is already quite capable of running many genAI models at the edge.

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