Google is reportedly nearing an agreement with Apple to incorporate its AI model, Gemini, into the iPhone. This information was revealed by Google CEO Sundar Pichai during the ongoing search monopoly trial on Wednesday, where he expressed optimism about finalizing the Gemini partnership with Apple by mid-year, with an anticipated rollout by the end of 2025.
The integration is expected to enhance Siri’s capabilities, enabling it to respond to more intricate queries, akin to the functionality that Apple introduced with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president, previously indicated plans to integrate Gemini into Apple Intelligence back in June 2023, following the AI service’s announcement. Federighi mentioned, “We want to enable users ultimately to choose the models they want, maybe Google Gemini in the future.”
This latest development followed inquiries from Department of Justice lawyer Veronica Onyema, to which Pichai affirmed the existence of such plans. He also disclosed a meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook to discuss artificial intelligence advancements. “He [Cook] was trying to understand our plans for how we’re evolving AI technologies, our roadmap, and as part of that, we talked about the Gemini app distribution as well,” Pichai stated. He noted that Cook indicated more third-party AI models would be available on Apple Intelligence later this year.
Additional evidence supporting this integration surfaced in February when MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris identified mentions of “Google” as a potential model option within the iOS 18.4 beta for Apple Intelligence. With the current ChatGPT integration, Siri requests user permission to access the third-party AI model for more complex responses, while also possessing the ability to analyze images and generate visuals from text prompts.
