Apple has announced a decision to use Google’s Gemini models to power its long-awaited Siri overhaul, marking a strategic pivot that tightens one of Silicon Valley’s most lucrative partnerships, and reshuffles competitive hierarchies in artificial intelligence.
Announced on Monday, the multi-year deal, which also raises fresh questions about market concentration, privacy, and the future role of OpenAI inside Apple’s ecosystem, will see Google’s Gemini models form the backbone of Siri and other forthcoming Apple Intelligence features slated for release later this year.
While neither company disclosed financial terms, the implications are expected to be enormous. Apple brings more than two billion active devices into the equation. Google brings frontier AI models it believes are now mature enough to operate at Apple’s scale.
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“After careful evaluation, Apple determined Google’s AI technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models,” Google said, framing the agreement as a technical endorsement rather than a commercial compromise.
The wording matters because Apple has spent years signaling it wants to control core technologies internally. Turning to Gemini suggests that, at least for now, speed and capability have taken precedence over full independence.
For Google, the deal is a decisive competitive win. Gemini already underpins much of Samsung’s “Galaxy AI,” but Siri offers something Samsung cannot: habitual, daily use across a tightly controlled ecosystem. Siri is embedded not just in phones, but in laptops, watches, tablets, cars, and smart homes. Each interaction becomes a distribution channel for Gemini at a scale few AI companies can match.
The agreement also sharpens the contrast with OpenAI. Apple introduced ChatGPT integration in late 2024, allowing Siri to hand off complex queries to the chatbot. That relationship remains intact, but its boundaries are now clearer. ChatGPT stays as an opt-in assistant for advanced questions, while Gemini becomes the default intelligence layer.
“Apple’s decision to use Google’s Gemini models for Siri shifts OpenAI into a more supporting role,” said Parth Talsania, CEO of Equisights Research. “ChatGPT remains relevant, but no longer sits at the center of Apple’s AI strategy.”
That repositioning comes at a sensitive moment for OpenAI. After Google unveiled Gemini 3 late last year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly issued a “code red,” urging teams to accelerate development. Apple’s decision to choose Gemini over a deeper OpenAI integration underscores how fluid alliances remain in a market still defining its long-term winners.
The deal also highlights Apple’s uneven path in AI. While rivals raced ahead with chatbots and image generators, Apple moved cautiously, emphasizing privacy, on-device processing, and reliability. That caution, however, translated into delays. Siri’s revamp slipped, top-level executives were reassigned, and early Apple Intelligence features drew muted reactions. Some analysts believe that partnering with Google allows Apple to close the capability gap without restarting the clock.
Still, the move has drawn criticism. Tesla CEO Elon Musk warned that the partnership concentrates too much power in Google’s hands, given its control over Android and Chrome.
“This seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google, given that the[y] also have Android and Chrome,” Musk said.
His comments echo a broader concern among policymakers and competitors that Google is embedding itself across every major digital gateway: search, mobile operating systems, browsers, and now AI assistants inside Apple devices.
Those concerns are amplified by history. Apple and Google already share a controversial arrangement that makes Google the default search engine on Apple devices, a deal that reportedly generates tens of billions of dollars annually for Apple while reinforcing Google’s dominance in search. Adding Gemini to Siri deepens that interdependence at a time when antitrust scrutiny of Big Tech is intensifying in the United States and abroad.
Privacy, a core part of Apple’s brand, is another pressure point. Both companies sought to pre-empt criticism by stressing safeguards. Google said Apple Intelligence will continue to run on Apple devices and through Apple’s Private Cloud Compute, maintaining what it called Apple’s “industry-leading privacy standards.” The reassurance reflects lingering user anxiety about how much personal data AI assistants can access and where that data is processed.
Markets swiftly moved in reaction to the deal. Alphabet’s valuation climbed above $4 trillion following the announcement, extending a rally fueled by growing confidence in Google’s AI push. The stock surged 65% last year as investors warmed to Google’s aggressive investment in frontier models, image and video generation, and massive computing infrastructure. Apple’s shares were steadier, reflecting investor awareness that the company is playing catch-up rather than setting the pace.
Beyond Wall Street, the deal redraws strategic lines. Developers building for Apple platforms will now optimize experiences around Gemini-powered intelligence. Competitors are expected to reassess how much room remains outside ecosystems dominated by a handful of model providers. Additionally, regulators may have to scrutinize whether default AI integrations mirror the anticompetitive dynamics long debated in search and mobile software.
In the short term, consumers may see a more capable Siri, finally able to compete with newer assistants on reasoning, context, and responsiveness. In the longer term, Apple’s bet on Gemini aligns with a growing industry trend that has seen major companies team up to secure a place in the AI arms race.