According to a recent report by The Financial Times, Apple’s partnership with Google could result in the iPhone maker paying a substantial amount over time. This agreement also reveals that OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, chose not to pursue a deal that would have made it the core AI provider for Siri. The news highlights the growing importance of AI in the tech industry, where top-tier models are now valuable enough to command multi-billion-dollar licensing deals.
Apple has been developing its own AI systems, known as Apple Intelligence, but the company has also shown a willingness to partner with other companies when needed. This is particularly evident in the case of consumer expectations for AI assistants, which have shifted significantly in recent years. With the rise of AI models like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude, users now expect more from their virtual assistants. These models can understand context, interpret images, and help users complete tasks, making them a significant upgrade over traditional voice assistants.
The partnership between Apple and Google is expected to cost the iPhone maker billions as it scales. The deal will see Google’s Gemini AI model integrated into Apple’s Siri, providing users with a more advanced and capable virtual assistant. This move suggests that Apple is prioritizing speed and capability over waiting for an entirely in-house solution to catch up. The integration of Gemini into Siri will enable the virtual assistant to better understand natural language, keep context across requests, and provide more accurate and helpful responses.
One of the most surprising aspects of the report is that OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, reportedly decided against becoming Apple’s custom model provider for Siri. This means that OpenAI had the opportunity to be the “brain” behind Siri’s next era but chose not to pursue it. While this doesn’t mean that ChatGPT will disappear from Apple devices, it does suggest that OpenAI is more interested in supporting its own efforts and developing its own AI models rather than being the behind-the-scenes infrastructure for Apple’s assistant.
The partnership between Apple and Google is a significant win for the search giant, as it puts Google’s AI technology in front of one of the largest user bases on the planet – iPhone owners. This deal reinforces the trend that AI models are becoming platforms, and licensing them is turning into a massive revenue stream. The fact that Apple is willing to pay billions for this partnership signals that top-tier AI models are now seen as essential infrastructure, similar to search engines, chips, or app stores.
For everyday users, the integration of Gemini into Siri means that the virtual assistant should become smarter and more useful, faster. This shift could unlock the Siri that users have been waiting for – one that can understand natural language, keep context, and provide more accurate and helpful responses. While Apple will likely continue to emphasize privacy and on-device processing where possible, the reality is that the most powerful AI features often require cloud-level computing. Partnerships like this help Apple bridge that gap and will find a way to plug Gemini into its Private Cloud Compute platform to protect user privacy.
The big takeaway from this news is that the AI race is entering a new phase that we’ve never seen before. The AI race is evolving into something more expensive, more competitive, and harder for any single company to dominate alone. Big tech companies are no longer just “building AI”; they’re buying access to the best models while trying to control where AI shows up in your daily life. As the AI landscape continues to evolve, it will be interesting to see how companies like Apple, Google, and OpenAI navigate this new phase and what it means for users and the future of technology.
