New Version of Siri to 'Lean' on Google Gemini

[mikebenton]

Everyone has their own ambitions when it comes to AI. Personally, I seek contextual AI. I see a progression towards agents that can connect to other services providing even more context - like banking, e-mail, security/camera system, etc.

There needs to be a lot of trust to bring all that information together in one place. I don't see myself giving Google or Microsoft the keys to that kingdom. Getting access to all that personal data...and then having it connected to AI. I'm guessing that would be an advertisers wet dream. If Apple is going to leverage Google....then I guess I'll have to just keep on waiting. Because of privacy, I have been sticking to Apple. If Apple and Google are going to link themselves together....well, that changes things.

 

[lapstags]

Tim Cook has terrible strategic vision. If Chinese companies such as DeepSeek can build models why can’t Apple?

 

[Plutonius]

It sounds like a disaster.

 

[bmark]

Nothing. As the article says - Google only provides a model which will be run entirely on Apple's infrastructure. Model itself cannot send your data to some other server. Even if it could, if it's working on your own server, you can see entire communication going out from there, so you're in charge (I mean Apple is).

Privacy is out the door when Google is involved!

 

[krspkbl]

Gemini is actually really good. I prefer it to ChatGPT. So this sounds exciting to me.

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

I called this like a month ago. I wonder if Gurman is using my post as a source ha.

 

[smulji]

Probably quite well considering they're barely in the AI space and don't have many investments or hold much stock in it.

If they'd purchased Anthropic like they probably should have then maybe it would. But maybe Tim doesn't like the idea of losing billions every quarter.

Why would they lose billions every quarter? Investments in Apple Intelligence are baked into the price of the devices. And Apple could always sell a subscription for a Pro version or tie it into iCloud+

 

[chickenpiccata]

“years of damage to the Siri brand.”

Why do we still see those same executives year after year after year?

 

[nt5672]

And apparently Apple is still cheaping out:

"Apple is paying Google to create a custom Gemini-based model that can run on its private cloud servers and help power Siri. Apple held a bake-off this year between Anthropic and Google, ultimately determining that the former offered a better model but that Google made more sense financially (partly due to the tech giants’ preexisting search relationship)."

And at the expense of "We are the most secure phone out there."

 

[nt5672]

It sounds like a disaster.

And since it uses Google's models, I guess that means that it will never learn and never be updated.

 

[kiranmk2]

Apple will preview iOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27 and other operating systems at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference in June. The updates will apparently focus on major updates to Apple Intelligence and the company's broader AI strategy.

Won't be surprised if iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 17 and iPad Pro (M4) owners get screwed over with most new features requiring 12 GB RAM...

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

And at the expense of "We are the most secure phone out there."

Please read the article.
This changes nothing about privacy, Apple is still handling the Data.
This is literally the software equivalent of Apple using Samsung for display manufacturing.
Apple designs their displays, decides the specifications for their displays, all Samsung does is build them.
Likewise, Apple has complete say into this LLM, they decide what it does, they host it on their very own data centers, literally all Google does is build it to Apple’s spec.

 

[subjonas]

The virtual assistant has its own virtual assistant.

That's fine, but I just thought it was funny. Maybe Gemini is getting ChatGPT to do some of its legwork, and ChatGPT has another assistant and it's just assistants all the way down. And it would be the ultimate if whatever is at the bottom is actually querying Siri 🤯

 

[Donkey Man]

Tim Cook has terrible strategic vision. If Chinese companies such as DeepSeek can build models why can’t Apple?

Because Tim Spindler is a bean counter.

 

[klasma]

And at the expense of "We are the most secure phone out there."

Since Apple will be running it on their own infrastructure, I don’t think security will be an issue. But if I were Apple, I would rather avoid becoming more dependent on Google. Maybe they are seeing it as a temporary solution until they can get a home-grown model up to snuff, but temporary solutions have a tendency to become permanent.

 

[Kmh241]

So at what point do we all just switch to pixel? Ads coming to Maps, now Gemini. Apple will NEVER admit it but they took their eye off the AI ball and worried about Vision Pro and the Apple car and that’s why they’re left with no AI and they’ve ignored Siri for all these years because all their executives and leadership are out of touch. That’s why Tim Cook needs to be replaced. I’m a hard-core Apple fan, but Apple has lost its way & forgot its roots.

 

[satchmo]

Won't be surprised if iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 17 and iPad Pro (M4) owners get screwed over with most new features requiring 12 GB RAM...

And an incoming class action suit.

A payout that is less than revenue made on those products.

 

[bluecoast]

And apparently Apple is still cheaping out:

"Apple is paying Google to create a custom Gemini-based model that can run on its private cloud servers and help power Siri. Apple held a bake-off this year between Anthropic and Google, ultimately determining that the former offered a better model but that Google made more sense financially (partly due to the tech giants’ preexisting search relationship)."

I think it's primarily because Google just has more experience at working at the huge megascale that Apple does.

And yeah, probably Apple see a way to up the payments for Gemini as search decreases. And I'm sure that is on Google's mind too.

 

[bluecoast]

So at what point do we all just switch to pixel? Ads coming to Maps, now Gemini. Apple will NEVER admit it but they took their eye off the AI ball and worried about Vision Pro and the Apple car and that’s why they’re left with no AI and they’ve ignored Siri for all these years because all their executives and leadership are out of touch. That’s why Tim Cook needs to be replaced. I’m a hard-core Apple fan, but Apple has lost its way & forgot its roots.

Agreed.

Honestly, I would not be surprised if Google and Apple 'merged' in the coming years.

Gapple? It's ... catchy.

Either that or Apple starts to have the same relationship to Google as Samsung does with Galaxy.

 

[JOLoughlin]

What does this mean for privacy?

It says in the article.

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Everyone has their own ambitions when it comes to AI. Personally, I seek contextual AI. I see a progression towards agents that can connect to other services providing even more context - like banking, e-mail, security/camera system, etc.

There needs to be a lot of trust to bring all that information together in one place. I don't see myself giving Google or Microsoft the keys to that kingdom. Getting access to all that personal data...and then having it connected to AI. I'm guessing that would be an advertisers wet dream. If Apple is going to leverage Google....then I guess I'll have to just keep on waiting. Because of privacy, I have been sticking to Apple. If Apple and Google are going to link themselves together....well, that changes things.

i'm not giving anyone all the keys to the kingdom, Apple included...on-device, or otherwise.

 

[JOLoughlin]

Call me a dinosaur but in this LLM age I value privacy. So this may again be a differentiator for Apple. Still unknown on quality and performance ofc. This may be for buying themselves more time to create their own even though they kind of set themselves up for their own deadline by announcing personalized Siri when they didn’t have to.

 

[cardfan]

I’d rather Apple spend the time and get it right with their own in-house model.

Apple can’t do that for whatever reason.

 

[Enzo Morocioli]

You'd think such a rich company could set up the "world's first privacy focused LLM server array!" Where Apple could build a USA based AI farm, using renewable energy and environmental safeguards to set the foundation for future sustainable AI utilization. Local servers, full encryption, coordination of software/hardware, Apple has the potential to absolutely dominate this emergent sector of the economy. Where's the ambition? Where's the "thinking different"? Where's the sledgehammer to the status quo philosophy?? Come on Apple. Don't be evil.

 

[maszaikasza]

Privacy is out the door when Google is involved!

Your opinion reflects a general sentiment which I get. I'm also far from trusting Google. But I'd like to stick to facts more. How do you imagine the risk of losing privacy in this case?