According to a Bloomberg report that cited individuals familiar with the discussions, the talks signal Apple’s growing openness to external AI partnerships.
Apple Inc. (AAPL) is reportedly exploring the possibility of using Alphabet Inc.’s (GOOGL) Gemini artificial intelligence to overhaul its revamped Siri voice assistant.
According to a Bloomberg report that cited individuals familiar with the discussions, the talks signal Apple’s growing openness to external AI partnerships. Google has begun developing an AI model that may operate on Apple’s infrastructure.
Apple stock traded more than 1% higher on Friday afternoon. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment toward the stock remained in ‘extremely bearish’ territory amid ‘extremely low’ message volume levels.
The report added that Apple is currently testing two separate versions of its upgraded voice assistant – the first one is driven by the company’s internal models, while the second version is powered by external AI providers. However, Apple has not made a final agreement yet with Google, according to the report.
Code-named Linwood and Glenwood, respectively, the two versions represent a battle to determine which system performs better in delivering intelligent, personalized responses.
Apple previously previewed the upgraded Siri at its 2024 annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), highlighting features like a more conversational Siri and ChatGPT integration.
However, against most expectations that the more powerful Siri would be part of the iPhone 16 lineup, the company delayed the launch indefinitely. It is now expected to happen sometime in 2026.
Executives, including software head Craig Federighi and Vision Pro lead Mike Rockwell, are overseeing the Siri revamp, which initially relied on Apple’s own Foundation Models team, the report said. But engineering challenges and delayed releases forced Apple to consider help from outside developers like Anthropic and OpenAI.
Apple’s internal AI team has faced some significant setbacks recently, including the departure of chief architect Ruoming Pang to Meta Platforms Inc. (META).
AAPL stock has declined more than 8% year-to-date, but it is up 1% in the last 12 months.
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