For $1 billion a year, Google’s Gemini AI will soon be handling all of Siri’s “multi-step tasks.” Apple has licensed its rival’s “ultrapowerful” 1.2 trillion parameter model as an “interim solution” for its new “Linwood” assistant.
This “behind-the-scenes” integration is part of Apple’s “Glenwood” project to fix Siri. Google’s AI was chosen after it won a “bake-off” against OpenAI and Anthropic, proving it was the best at “planner” and “summariser” functions.
The new Siri will be a hybrid. Apple’s 150-billion parameter models will manage simple requests, while Google’s AI will tackle the heavy lifting, a monumental upgrade for the assistant.
This is a reluctant admission of Apple’s AI lag. Top executives Craig Federighi and Mike Rockwell are overseeing the project, pushing their teams to build a 1T+ replacement model.
Privacy is the deal’s cornerstone. The Gemini model will be hosted on Apple’s “walled-off” Private Cloud Compute servers, not Google’s. This ensures Google gets its $1B fee but no access to Apple’s user data.
