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As we draw nearer to Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, the rumor mill has been buzzing with claims regarding Apple’s future artificial intelligence (AI) plans. Well, there have just been a couple of significant developments that shed some light on what Apple might ultimately unveil to the world, and you might be quite surprised by what Apple is apparently working on.

Contents

• Siri, powered by Gemini
• How long will the deal last?

According to Bloomberg, Apple is in talks with Google to infuse its Gemini generative AI tool into Apple’s systems and has also considered enlisting ChatGPT’s assistance instead. This move with Google has the potential to completely transform the way the Mac, iPhone, and other Apple devices function on a daily basis, but it could face intense regulatory scrutiny.

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The partnership comes as somewhat of a surprise, given the recent rumors about Apple’s AI endeavors. For months, leaks and rumors have asserted that Apple has been working on its own generative AI model, named Ajax, which could potentially power various features within Apple’s operating systems. There has been talk about how many of Apple’s apps and services, from Pages to Siri, could be enhanced with its own AI. However, that idea seems to have taken a hit following Bloomberg’s revelation.

That’s not the only reason why this rumored deal might seem astonishing. For one thing, we know that Apple likes to have control over its systems, and that often means developing new features in-house. Will Apple be content to hand over such a crucial new development to another company?

In addition, Apple and Google have been rivals for years. The two companies have very distinct philosophies: Google often prefers to utilize the cloud to enhance speed and performance. For Apple, the priority is doing things on-device to boost user security and privacy. The question that many people will be asking is how two very different tech firms can find a compromise that works for both and enhances the capabilities of your iPhone.

Siri, powered by Gemini

Google

Yet Apple and Google are not averse to collaborating. After all, the two have a deal in place for Google to be the default search engine on Apple devices, with many people complaining that it makes it difficult to change your default search engine in iOS and macOS.

However, I believe what this rumored deal really indicates is that Apple’s own AI is not yet ready for prime time. If it were, it wouldn’t need to rely on the services of Gemini or ChatGPT. Apple doesn’t want to fall further behind its AI competitors, but it seems it doesn’t have the time to complete its own model.

So, if Gemini is coming to an iPhone near you, what kind of features will it offer? Bloomberg reporter Mark Gurman believes that Gemini’s AI features will “theoretically be integrated into Siri and other apps.” Apple’s in-house AI, meanwhile, would be “focused on proactively providing users with information and carrying out tasks on their behalf in the background.”

If Apple chooses Gemini to power its generative AI efforts, it could give a significant boost to Siri, potentially giving Apple’s assistant the boost it needs to catch up with rival services. Currently, the gap between Siri and generative AIs like ChatGPT is vast.

How long will the deal last?

Christine Romero-Chan / Digital Trends

Interestingly, we know that Apple is pouring resources into giving its generative AI model an edge, perhaps so that it can one day take over from the likes of Gemini on your device. This is because a recently published research paper from Apple shows how the company’s in-house generative AI has been trained on a combination of text and images, enabling it to achieve “state-of-the-art few-shot results” across a range of benchmarks.

The model, named MM1, has been able to perform in-depth, multi-step reasoning without much prompting from the user. Apple claims it also exhibits remarkable performance when it comes to image captioning and understanding natural-language meanings.

According to VentureBeat, “This points to the potential for large multimodal models to tackle complex, open-ended problems that require grounded language understanding and generation.” Yet it seems that all of this will have to wait for another time, given that Apple is seeking a deal with Google to integrate Gemini into its devices. Gurman doesn’t believe Apple will reveal its Gemini partnership at WWDC, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it announced later this year. If that’s the case, it may be a long time before Ajax gets the green light.

There is another big question, though: How long will Apple want to rely on Gemini to power its services? With regulatory measures and privacy concerns potentially emerging, I expect Apple will want to switch to its own Ajax AI model sooner rather than later. But if Ajax truly isn’t ready yet, exactly when that will happen is anyone’s guess.