Apple’s Gemini Bet
After much speculation, Apple announced it is partnering with Google to have the latter’s Gemini models power its Siri and Apple Intelligence features. The partnership will allow Apple to bring advance AI tools to its products, especially given its painful journey with its own AI strategy, but it does mark a significant departure from its historic approach to development.
Apple has traditionally owned every layer of tech in its ecosystem, giving it an edge against rivals. But in the game-changing space of AI, after spending a significant amount of time developing its own AI tools, it is now effectively admitting failure and outsourcing the foundational layer of its AI to Google. At a time when firms are pouring billions to dominate the AI space, Apple’s cautious approach will allow it to watch from the sidelines as Google participates in the more expensive development of core AI models. The first big development of this partnership is likely to come around April when the much-delayed AI-powered Siri, now working on Gemini’s AI model, is expected to launch.
The partnership however comes at the expense of others, particularly OpenAI. After dominating the AI space since it launched its first version of ChatGPT, OpenAI is finding others like Gemini rapidly closing in. The new partnership will now deliver a large audience to its rival Google.