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Bloomberg is reporting new details on the partnership between Apple and Google to have Gemini power the revamped Siri next year. Here are the details. 1.3 billion paramenters for $1 billion A few days ago, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that Google had won the AI bake-off against Anthropic to become Apple’s AI provider for the revamped, AI-powered Siri, set to be released next year. Interestingly, what reportedly tipped the scales towards Google wasn’t model performance, but rather the price tag. Now, Gurman has reported further on the value: “Following an extensive evaluation period, the two companies are now finalizing an agreement that would see Apple pay roughly $1 billion annually for access to Google’s technology, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private. The new Siri is on track for next spring, Bloomberg has reported.” The new report also includes a few technical details regarding the size of the custom-made model that Google will provide Apple: “Apple Inc. is planning to use a 1.2 trillion parameter artificial intelligence model developed by Alphabet Inc.’s Google to help power its long-promised overhaul of the Siri voice assistant, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The iPhone maker is banking on Google’s help to rebuild Siri’s underlying technology, setting the stage for a new slate of features next year. The Google model’s 1.2 trillion parameters — a measure of the AI software’s complexity — would dwarf the level of Apple’s current models.” For reference, Apple’s in-house cloud-based model has 150 billion parameters, while Apple’s local model (which was made with on-device performance in mind, rather than raw power and size) has 3 billion parameters. Bloomberg says that project Glenwood, which is the codename of Apple’s effort to look into a third-party provider for Siri’s AI-powered smarts, was overseen by Mike Rockwell, who was recently put in charge of the Siri revamp following an internal shake-up. Today’s report also says that Google will not get the totality of the new Siri’s functions: “Under the arrangement, Google’s Gemini model will handle Siri’s summarizer and planner functions — the components that help the voice assistant synthesize information and decide how to execute complex tasks. Some Siri features will continue to use Apple’s in-house models.” Also under the agreement, Google’s model will reportedly run on Apple’s own servers, which in practice means that no user data will be shared with Google. Instead, they won’t leave Apple’s Private Cloud Compute structure. Gurman also says that this new agreement is different from Apple’s past explorations to have Gemini as a partner to provide Siri with world knowledge, like with Apple’s current deal with OpenAI. Apple reportedly came close to coming to an agreement with Google on that in 2024, but “ultimately didn’t materialize into a feature.” Apple still hopes to develop its own large-scale model Finally, the report claims that Apple’s deal with Google doesn’t mean that the company is giving up on its own projects to have an independent model to power Siri: “Apple still doesn’t want to use Gemini as a long-term solution. Despite the company bleeding AI talent — including the head of its models team — management intends to keep developing new AI technology and hopes to eventually replace Gemini with an in-house solution, the people said. To that end, the company’s models team is working on a 1 trillion parameter cloud-based model that it hopes to have ready for consumer applications as early as next year.” Whether Apple can catch up and continue to evolve its own capabilities, keeping pace with the natural evolution of Gemini and the broader AI market, remains to be seen. Accessory deals on Amazon
