Apple's Private AI Will Run on Google's Servers

[MacRumors]

Apple today said it is expanding Private Cloud Compute (PCC) beyond its data centers, partnering with Google and NVIDIA to run Apple Intelligence workloads on Google Cloud.

Private Cloud Compute is Apple's cloud intelligence system for private AI processing, used to keep Apple Intelligence requests secure while handling processing in the cloud. PCC has been limited to Apple silicon servers in Apple data centers, but Apple is now relying on Google servers to handle some Apple Intelligence processing.

Apple partnered with Google to use the technologies behind Google's Gemini AI models for its own Apple Foundation Models. While some processing is done on-device, agentic tool use and complex reasoning require cloud processing. Apple says it worked with Google and NVIDIA to extend its PCC infrastructure to Google Cloud systems that run NVIDIA GPUs without compromising privacy and security protections.

Our core PCC requirements remain exactly the same: stateless computation, enforceable guarantees, no privileged runtime access, non-targetability, and verifiable transparency. What's new with PCC on Google Cloud is the implementation: NVIDIA Confidential Computing with NVIDIA GPUs, Intel CPUs with TDX, and Google's Titan chip.

All server components and software are part of a trusted computing base subject to verifiable transparency and no-privileged-access guarantees, plus Apple has a cryptographically verifiable ledger of all Google Cloud hardware that is part of the PCC fleet to mitigate the risk of supply chain attacks. PCC on Google Cloud also uses many of the same architectural security patterns as PCC on Apple silicon.

Apple says the efforts it has made to bring PCC to Google Cloud will mean user data continues to be protected by PCC's security and privacy properties even outside of Apple hardware and data centers. Apple maintains control over PCC software and Apple devices will only trust PCC software cryptographically approved by Apple.

PCC on Google Cloud is not fully implemented, and Apple plans to gradually add the full set of protections throughout the beta testing process.

PCC on Google Cloud binaries will be available for public inspection. Apple plans to provide public research tooling and access to live PCC nodes in research mode through its Apple Security Bounty Program.

Article Link: Apple's Private AI Will Run on Google's Servers

 

[Astuces iOS]

And you still call it private… wow

 

[Elwe]

My initial reaction is “boo!”. But I’m reasonable enough, I think, that I can wait to judge until we know more technical implementation detail, which they are still working out. After all, it isn’t like Apple itself is perfect and that it has always done things perfectly in these areas.

I assume they just don’t have the necessary chips and capacity, and don’t want to pay the capital costs for acquiring and managing such at the top of this AI bubble. And this path means they can do this with other partners latter.

It is the adult path. But I still have a voice in my head saying “boo!”.

 

[Joosst]

Is it so they can still say they are carbon neutral by 2030...?

 

[sza]

I don’t get why everyone’s still hung up on Google’s privacy issues. Does Apple really have a better alternative, and should it partner with Grok, LLaMA, or ChatGPT? 😀 Ultimately, any company that builds AI infrastructure can monetize it and target users with ads, so the core trade‑off is control versus dependence on third‑party models.

Apple has to suck it at this time. This is the result of missing the AI wave by focusing on the wrong priorities like the worthless goggle; now Apple has to pivot and secure deals with real AI model providers to stay competitive. Yes, Apple avoided huge upfront investment, but that saved capital comes with increased dependence on third‑party models and vendors.

Missing AI is reminiscent of Microsoft under Steve Ballmer, which failed to capitalize on the mobile market - when a CEO is not tech‑oriented and is overly profit‑driven, similar strategic blind spots can occur.

(I am not bashing Tim Cook, so don't ban me.)

 

[delsoul]

Nope, not a chance I’ll be using it. Alphabet, Google, whatever they’re calling themselves these days is too shadowy and shady

 

[scrapesleon]

So it’s not private then

 

[Elwe]

Nope, not a chance I’ll be using it. Alphabet, Google, whatever they’re calling themselves these days is too shadowy and shady

It isn’t perfectly clear that you will have a choice, at least if you want any Siri AI functionality. Apple should have a clear toggle(s) in Settings that allow you to prevent any 1) call to any “AI” Cloud service, including their own; and 2) to any particular provider(s). But it doesn’t appear they are going to make things this simple.

 

[edrozenberg]

For decades Apple indulged its hate of Nvidia to prove it posesses stupid levels of high-minded consistency. Stopped supporting Nvidia hardware with drivers, prevented users from doing anything to use Nvidia hardware. Now that it's convenient for Apple's profits, Nvidia AI is aok.

 

[applefan8254]

could we get more options for privacy? Would be nice to have option where all ai chats are completely private, fully encrypted and a guarantee of zero human reviewers, while still syncing chats across multiple devices: would be more approachable for those who value privacy.

 

[delsoul]

It isn’t perfectly clear that you will have a choice, at least if you want any Siri AI functionality. Apple should have a clear toggle(s) in Settings that allow you to prevent any 1) call to any “AI” Cloud service, including their own; and 2) to any particular provider(s). But it doesn’t appear they are going to make things this simple.

I don’t use Siri as it is. I don’t want anything to do with Google or their servers, services, etc. Far as I’m concerned, they’re just a data collection for the US gov like Tencent, etc is for the Chinese gov. It’s why Google gets every contract for everything.

 

[Stike]

Apple chose the best partner, Google and Privacy are almost synonymous...

/s

 

[fatTribble]

It isn’t perfectly clear that you will have a choice, at least if you want any Siri AI functionality. Apple should have a clear toggle(s) in Settings that allow you to prevent any 1) call to any “AI” Cloud service, including their own; and 2) to any particular provider(s). But it doesn’t appear they are going to make things this simple.

That’s exactly what I’m hoping. Much like we get a confirmation today before a request is sent to ChatGPT, we should be able to keep our requests from hitting a google server or even Apple’s own servers.

And I’m fine if that means certain features will have to be disabled or requests cannot be processed.

 

[Etc_]

In almost every other area, Apple tries to become independent and self-sufficient, creating their own chips, modems, software, etc. This seems like such a failure on their part. In my opinion, we saw this as a last-minute effort during the keynote, with "Siri AI" basically being just a wrapper for Gemini and struggling to come up with actually useful use cases. I hope it stings to make this deal with the devil. Most people want less Google, not more. But I am sure it is really worth the environmental damage just to ask Siri for food recommendations for a World Cup party. What does Google get in return? Money? Which ultimately will be paid by the customers.

 

[Artemiz]

So it’s not private then

Private doesn’t mean hosted by a first party. It means no one but you has access to your information, and it’s still the case here.

 

[lepetitnicolas]

Remember that ?

Now it's more "What happens on your iPhone, goes somewhere, may stay somewhere or not (most probably not)(trust us), comes back to your iPhone hopefully".

and they'll need to update https://www.apple.com/privacy

1. No it won't be sent only to "Apple silicon servers".
2. For sure it will be processed and maybe never stored er accessible to Apple but what about Google ?
3. Ok it will be returned to me... but will you assure Google will not also return it to something/someone else ?

 

[tkermit]

As long as we can turn it off.

We can still turn it off... right?

 

[Astuces iOS]

As long as we can turn it off.

We can still turn it off... right?

Idk if you can turn it off but you can not use that feature…

Is it so they can still say they are carbon neutral by 2030...?

I don’t think carbon neutral includes AI hahaha but you are right !

 

[Baritone_Guy]

And you still call it private… wow

That’s not how this works. It simply means they are using Google as a Hyperscaler. It’s like Netflix running on AWS. All the Apple data will be secured with their own private keys.

Nope, not a chance I’ll be using it. Alphabet, Google, whatever they’re calling themselves these days is too shadowy and shady

See above.

So it’s not private then

See above, above 😉

Apple chose the best partner, Google and Privacy are almost synonymous...

/s

See above, above, above.

Private doesn’t mean hosted by first party. It means no one but you have access to your information and it’s still the case here.

You seem to be the only person so far that gets this.

It’s like everybody thinking they are using Gemini chat. They are only using the model. Nothing gets back to Google. Same idea as Copilot with Open AI or Anthropic these days.

It seems folks just want to be outraged for some reason.

 

[SirithX]

Cue all the armchair experts who will cry foul at the title alone. Running on Google servers isn't a privacy problem in and of itself, what matters is how the data is processed and governed. As a very basic example, if Apple employs one-way hashing on all data stored on non-Apple servers then it doesn't matter who owns the servers it's on, privacy stays intact. Just reading the content of this piece, it's clear there are a lot of protections in place.

 

[cateye]

It seems folks just want to be outraged for some reason.

You're doing the lord's work, but, there's a near pathological need among certain Apple users to identify their boogyman and cling to it like a totem. It is fully possible to define how data is processed in secure environments, on prem or not. Apple has opened itself up to auditing of the data chain; I'm sure someone will take them up on it, not that I have any doubt it will perform as they outline.

 

[Powerbooky]

I wonder... while RAM prices have skyrocketed now, chip development still continues and eventually I'd expect production of large, very large RAM capacities become cheap again. How many years until computing farms / datacenters become obsolete when there's more than enough storage available on a small device that enables a regular user to have his/her own AI at home with all the power/access to knowledge? (drawing just a couple of Watts)
5 years, 10 years?

 

[ReliableSource]

From this press Q&A:

If you believe they're lying, well, idk. They say third parties will be able to audit it, so we'll see.

 

[AFPoster]

I’m shocked they didn’t require Google to use their M-chip instead of Titan.

 

[montuori]

I don’t want anything to do with Google or their servers, services, etc.

Given the reach that Google Cloud has (including Vertex AI) it's almost certain that your data already have a lot to do with Google. I guess you can vent about Apple's use of Google services but this use case probably doesn't amount to much if you were to consider the entirety of all your data that are processed through Google's various products.