Apple Will Reportedly Pay Google $1 Billion Per Year to Use Gemini Model for Siri

Apple will reportedly pay Google about $1 billion a year to access its custom Gemini artificial intelligence (AI) model that will power the promised features in Siri. As per the report, the Cupertino-based tech giant does not want to go public with any announcement. This is likely being done to avoid any connection with its rival. Earlier, a report claimed that Apple was only planning to use Gemini to partially power Siri; however, the new report suggests that the AI model might play a larger role.

Apple to Reportedly Power Siri With Gemini

Much has been written about Apple's promised Siri upgrade, which was first unveiled at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024. Nearly one and a half years later, it has still not been delivered. The tech giant did everything, from delaying its release date to completely stopping talking about it, to reducing public scrutiny, but the company CEO is regularly being questioned about it by the investors.

Some reasons reported about the delay include engineering struggles, the departure of key employees working on the project, and the Apple Foundation Models simply not being capable enough. It appears the company has now acknowledged this and is looking outside to fix the Siri problem.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman claimed in the Power On newsletter that Apple has struck a deal worth about $1 billion a year with Google to use its Gemini model for Siri. It is said to be a custom AI model with 1.2 trillion parameters, a behemoth compared to Apple's 150 billion-parameter models.

To put it into context, parameters in an AI model are the pieces of knowledge it learns from data, stored in small digestible packets. They help it understand context and make more accurate predictions or responses. So, the more parameters a model has, the more accurate and efficient it will be.

Interestingly, the report claims that Apple is trying to prevent the development from becoming public knowledge. It reportedly does not want people to know that it is relying on a rival's technology to the point that it is calling the Google-built model Apple Foundation Model v10 (AFM v10). It is said to be done to avoid confusion among employees and customers and to focus that the company's internal architecture is still the driving force behind the upgraded Siri.

The report also adds that eventually, the company wants to stop relying on Google and power Siri with its in-house models. The plan is said to be developing a one trillion-parameter AFM that will be available to power Apple Intelligence features, including Siri. However, the timeline of when it might be developed remains unclear.