Apple has been conspicuously absent from the AI race that has consumed many of the world’s largest tech corporations. From AI-focused newcomers OpenAI (ChatGPT) and Anthropic (Claude) to legacy tech corporations Google (Gemini), Microsoft (Copilot), and Meta (Meta AI), Apple has sat on the sidelines of the latest Silicon Valley gold rush.
Whether by happenstance or by design, it was apparent at least two years ago that Apple wasn’t likely to catch up, even if it started on a homegrown AI program in earnest to challenge the big dogs. Its only real hope was to buy up an existing company or strike a deal with one.
Now Apple and Google have made it official: Google’s Gemini AI will underpin the future of Apple’s AI efforts.
a long time coming…
Apple reportedly considered other companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic, before ultimately settling on Google’s Gemini as the main thrust of Apple’s AI efforts. It won’t come cheap, with Apple rumored to fork over $1 billion per year for access to Gemini.
As part of Apple’s push into Apple Intelligence, they’d partnered with OpenAI to a limited extent to bring some of ChatGPT’s smarts into Siri. It went over like a lead balloon, with the late 2024 rollout disappointing most pundits and users by underdelivering, even compared to its modest promises.
News of the Gemini deal is hardly a surprise. Apple had been openly courting its mega-neighbor for more than a year, and although competitors in smartphones, tablets, earbuds, and smart speakers, the two companies have a long history of cooperation. Just look at the $20 billion per year that Google pays Apple to make it the default search engine on Apple’s operating systems.
As AI becomes more central to smartphones, it was inevitable that Apple would need a partner to keep up. Gemini is central to Google’s Pixel lineup, and after Samsung gave its own Bixby the boot, it too adopted Gemini for its Galaxy series. With Apple now on board the Gemini train, it looks like Google is the big winner.
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