Apple is reportedly in “active talks” with Google to bring its Gemini generative artificial intelligence technology to the iPhone, Bloomberg report, and also consider using OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
CEO Tim Cook has confirmed that Apple is spending “a lot of time and effort” on artificial intelligence features and plans to release them to customers “later this year.” Bloomberg’s Reports suggest that AI capabilities built into Apple products may eventually be powered by a combination of first-party and third-party AI models. Apple’s model could power on-device generative AI with iOS 18, due out later this year, while cloud-based AI features like text and image generation could be enabled through partnerships with companies like Google.
If the Google deal comes to fruition, Apple won’t be the first company to tap the search giant to offer artificial intelligence capabilities on its phones. Earlier this year, Samsung added a series of Galaxy AI-branded features to its Galaxy S24 smartphones, which are powered by Google’s AI technology. Google’s artificial intelligence is also prominently featured on its Pixel 8 devices. The potential branding or implementation of Google’s AI technology in Apple devices has yet to be decided.
A potential AI deal between Apple and Google could expand the reach of Google’s AI tools to Apple’s more than 2 billion iPhones currently on the market.but Bloomberg pointed out that Apple may make concessions as its own generative AI technology lags behind its competitors. Apple employees have apparently been testing an internal chatbot called Apple GPT, and the company reportedly has its own large-scale language model codenamed Ajax, but Apple’s AI technology is said to be less advanced than rivals.
It sounds like we might have to wait a while to find out if Apple finally signs an AI deal with Google Bloomberg noted that any such deal is unlikely to be announced before WWDC in June.