Apple picks Google Gemini to power Siri and other AI in blow to ChatGPT

Apple has picked Google’s Gemini to power its artificial intelligence features, including a revamped Siri assistant.

The announcement of the multi-year collaboration marks another setback for ChatGPT creator OpenAI, who Apple currently partners with to help boost Siri’s abilities.

The new deal comes ahead of an expected announcement from Apple concerning a major overhaul of its AI offerings, which the Cupertino company refers to as Apple Intelligence.

“After careful evaluation, Apple determined that Google's Al technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and is excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for Apple users,” stated a joint statement from the two US tech giants.

“Apple Intelligence will continue to run on Apple devices and Private Cloud Compute, while maintaining Apple's industry-leading privacy standards.”

The launch date for the long-promised upgrade to Siri, which Apple launched as a voice assistant on the iPhone in 2011, is set for early this year, according to earlier reports from Bloomberg.

The Independent has reached out to Apple for further information about a potential launch date, though the firm typically does not comment on unreleased products.

The partnership between Apple and Google prompted criticism from Elon Musk, who founded the AI firm xAI that develops ChatGPT and Gemini rival Grok.

“This seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google, given that the[y] also have Android and Chrome,” he wrote on X after the deal was announced.

Google has made significant progress with its artificial intelligence tools in recent months, with a recent upgrade to Gemini seeing it overtake its rivals in the majority of industry metrics used to determine the proficiency of an AI model.

In a research note on Monday, Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives described the latest deal as a “major validation moment for Google”.

The announcement saw Google’s parent company Alphabet hit a $4 trillion market valuation for the first time in the company’s history.

Only three other companies have ever reached that milestone: Apple, Microsoft and Nvidia.