New versions of Apple’s Apple Intelligence models will be based on Google’s Gemini AI models and its cloud computing services.
After a nearly yearlong delay to its efforts to compete in artificial intelligence, Apple said on Monday that it planned to base its AI products on technology developed by Google.
The upcoming versions of Apple Foundation Models — the company’s AI system, Apple Intelligence — will be based on Google’s Gemini AI models and its cloud computing services. Those models will power Apple’s personal assistant, Siri, which is widely used on iPhones and is expected to be upgraded this year, along with other AI features.
“After careful evaluation, Apple determined that Google’s AI technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and is excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for Apple users,” the companies said in a statement.
The companies did not disclose the exact terms of the multiyear deal, and a Google spokesman said the partnership was not exclusive.
Shares of Google’s parent company, Alphabet, ended trading on Monday at just under $332, making it the fourth publicly traded company to be worth more than $4 trillion.
Apple has increasingly faced questions about its AI plans. The company has largely stayed on the sidelines as other technology juggernauts have spent tens of billions of dollars developing AI and as start-ups have pushed the envelope on the technology.
The partnership with Google does not mean the iPhone maker is abandoning its AI work. However, it indicates that Apple is taking a more cautious approach than its peers. It allows Google to undertake the laborious—and expensive—development of core AI models, which require the computing capacity of massive data centers running tens of thousands of servers.
The two companies have a long history of working together. Google has been the default search engine in Apple’s Safari browser for years.
Apple stumbled in its earlier attempts to adopt AI. In June 2024, the company demonstrated Apple Intelligence, which included features like summarizing notifications and improving emails and text messages.
Those features arrived later than expected and quickly encountered issues. Notification summaries misrepresented news reports, for example, and Apple disabled that feature.
In March, Apple postponed the release of an improved Siri. Then, last month, Apple announced the retirement of its head of AI, John Giannandrea. He was succeeded by Amar Subramanya, a former executive at Google and Microsoft.
Apple already works with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT with Siri and Apple Intelligence. Consumers can enable Siri to use ChatGPT, for example, to answer more complex questions on their behalf.
