Apple could leverage Gemini for the rebirth of Siri AI which is bittersweet as it comes
Apple could leverage Gemini for the rebirth of Siri AI which is bittersweet as it comes
By | Published: 2025-11-03 08:11:28 | Source: Digital Trends
Apple CEO Tim Cook confirmed a few days ago that Siri’s overdue AI brain implant — which would make her as smart as competitors like Gemini and Copilot — would arrive next year. The company is very late to the AI game, with legacy assistants already being upgraded with next-generation intelligence.
Google Assistant is now Gemini. Microsoft has left Cortana behind and entered the era of Copilot. Startups like ChatGPT and Cloud are finding their way into mainstream products, integrating with a wide range of applications and services — even taking their reins as browsers.
Siri, well, it stayed the same. Apple gave it a half-hearted push by pushing the stack behind ChatGPT to Apple Intelligence. Essentially, ChatGPT handles what Siri can’t, from creating interesting images to fixing grammar rules. Apple’s internal attempts to revive its artificial intelligence, which LLM calls Siri, have reportedly declined. It looks like Google could play the role of knight in Apple’s shining armor.
What is happening?
In the latest edition of his PowerOn newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Apple has tasked Anthropic and Google with building a model that could run on its computing servers and serve as the backbone for Siri. Although Anthropic’s Claude was considered the best choice, Apple ultimately chose Google’s Gemini.
“Apple is betting big on the new Siri, which will be based on Google’s Gemini model and offer features like AI-powered web search,” the report says. What does this mean? Well, that’s pretty unpredictable, to be fair. Will Gemini remove ChatGPT from its base within the Apple Intelligence suite? We are not sure.
Will the “raw” Gemini Foundation simply be integrated with Siri’s database and made smarter? This is reasonable. Or will Gemini simply coexist alongside ChatGPT, allowing users to choose whichever option they prefer? We can’t rule that out either.
“Our goal is to integrate with more people over time,” Cook told CNBC, so there’s this vague but strongly worded statement. In the past, Apple executives have said the company is open to more AI partnerships. Last year, senior vice president of software, Craig Federighi, stated that Apple “may look to do integrations with different models like Google Gemini in the future.”
Right now, there’s a lot of speculation about Siri’s future. But Apple appears to have abandoned its ambitions to use its core AI model for an architecture-level upgrade to Siri, and will primarily use the framework that currently powers Gemini.
The victories are clear
On the surface, putting the Gemini architecture behind Siri seems like a win-win situation. Gemini’s natural language capabilities are far superior to what Siri currently offers. Just try Gemini Live mode and you will realize the gap between the two. Even in smartwatches, Gemini has radically changed voice-based controls.
I can’t wait for Siri to become less robotic and engage in seamless conversations. In fact, I want it to understand voice commands that don’t sound like repetitive, cryptic word salad, and it can perform multi-step tasks, just like Amazon’s next-generation Alexa+ assistant does now.
Gemini has a proven track record of deep integration with software used by millions every day. From Chrome and Gmail to Google Docs and even third-party tools like WhatsApp and Spotify, Google’s AI has been thoughtfully placed at the heart of many products. It covers the entire spectrum, and then more. From productivity tools and biometrics to photo and video creation, Google’s AI suite has it all.
Does this mean Apple devices will become the next sales park for Google’s own services? Unlikely. Given Apple’s history, Apple will never admit that Gmail is better than Mail, and will avoid any confrontational stance as well. “You shouldn’t expect this to mean Siri will be swamped by Google services or Gemini features that already exist on Android devices,” Bloomberg notes.
It would be a controversial choice. With Gemini enhancing Siri’s capabilities at a basic level, AI-driven experiences within Apple’s own suite of apps and services will get a big boost. Doing so would make Apple’s products stand out against Google’s alternatives, assuming it plays its cards right.
Take, for example, fraud detection and protection. Google is now using Gemini Nano’s on-device processing to spot fraud in the middle of a call or text session. The company says these advances have already made Android devices more secure than iPhones. This is nothing less than a historic shift.
Google likely won’t share the full secret sauce behind this advancement with Apple, but Apple can still leverage Gemini to improve the experience within its own apps in other ways. The company already has the foundations in place, and all it needs is an AI agent capable of handling the task.
That magic pill is App Intents, a system that allows users to navigate through the entire user interface of their iPhone using voice commands. “With just your voice, you’ll be able to tell Siri to find, edit, and send a specific photo. Comment on an Instagram post. Scroll through a shopping app and add something to your cart. Or sign in to a service without touching the screen,” Bloomberg.
Google has already given us a taste of this Gemini-powered experience. Gemini’s integration within Google products can already handle a wide range of commands across apps, while Project Mariner offers a fully agented experience where Gemini can surf the web and take actions on your behalf.
Bloomberg It was recently reported that Apple wants to turn wearable devices like the Apple Watch and AirPods into AI-powered devices. The new Workout Buddy feature on Apple Watches is a sign of things to come. And once again, Google has shown that it can do it better. The company has already deployed AI on wearable devices for a wide range of practical tasks, from personal training to two-way translation.
In short, with Gemini, Apple has a tried-and-tested formula for implementing AI across its entire hardware and software portfolio under the Siri banner. Apple already has multibillion-dollar deals with Google, so deepening ties likely won’t raise as many antitrust eyes as partnering with another major AI lab.
It’s not a good sight
On this surface, choosing a Gemini seems like the most natural choice. But Apple will also have to make some concessions. First, it would reduce the level of top-down control that Apple typically exercises over its software suite. Additionally, putting Gemini in the driver’s seat means Apple will rely on the progress Google makes with its Gemini models.
Right now, what works in Apple’s favor is that Gemini is one of the most powerful AI models available. This means that Apple won’t risk looking like it’s backwards by choosing it as the brains behind Siri. But resorting to Google also comes with a set of disadvantages, although Apple has made it clear that it will manage all operations strictly on its own computer servers, ensuring that all user data is processed securely.
Google’s reputation for privacy and security, which has attracted numerous investigations and fines over the years, will make users think twice about putting Gemini under Siri for the whole thing. But more than anything else, the specter of relying on Gemini to eventually save Siri will weigh heavily on Apple’s reputation as an innovator.
The partnership with OpenAI, which allowed users to turn their queries into ChatGPT if Siri couldn’t handle it, was already an indirect admission that Apple’s AI efforts were lagging far behind the competition. Placing a Gemini in the heart will be another influence on prestige. Placing Gemini in a deeper directing role in relation to Gemini would reduce Gemini’s attraction.
After all, if Gemini already offers the same experience — and with deeper integration across mobile and web platforms — on Android phones, why would you need an iPhone or Mac to experience Siri with the same set of capabilities? In hindsight, Google would almost certainly prefer to offer a more advanced flavor of Gemini on top of its own Pixel phones and software tools than what a Gemini structure behind Siri could achieve on Apple’s devices and services.
Another drawback is that handing the reins of Siri’s core AI to Gemini means we’ll never get to see what Apple’s AI efforts would have looked like. The company is already facing an exodus of top AI talent, and it certainly wouldn’t be a morale booster if Apple simply hired a competitor’s AI model to power something as ingrained in the brand’s identity as Siri.
After all, Apple started the AI assistant revolution with Siri. It’ll be a tough pill for fans to swallow to see it based on technology already available across Google’s ecosystem, and integrated into a whole world of third-party software products as well.
(Tags for translation)Phones
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