Gemini Could Be the Basis of New Artificial Intelligence Features in IOS 18
It’s no secret that Apple came pretty late to the artificial intelligence party. Since the rise of generative AI in late 2022 and early 2023, with every corner of the tech world doing something with AI, the world has been wondering what Apple would do with the technology. Not much yet.
However, all rumors point to major Apple software updates, such as iOS 18 , which will introduce the company’s first major forays into artificial intelligence. It won’t be surprising if you upgrade your iPhone this year and find a version of Siri reminiscent of ChatGPT, or see a helpful AI assistant when using an Apple app like Pages or Keynote. It’s nothing special, but it will put Apple in line with other companies that are integrating AI into their platforms.
Of course, we all expected Apple to provide these features with its own Large Language Models (LLMs). But it appears Apple may be calling in reinforcements.
According to Bloomberg , Apple is currently in talks with Google to use Gemini to power future AI features in the iPhone. While Apple’s idea of using another company’s AI technology is certainly a surprise (not to mention a big competitor like Google), Gemini won’t be Apple’s only AI engine. Apple will reportedly still use its own LLMs for on-device generative AI : anything your iPhone can handle on its own, Apple will do. However, any AI tasks that require outsourcing to the cloud will be outsourced to Gemini.
This isn’t necessarily the best option for Apple. Look, they won’t be the first company to do this: Samsung has partnered with Google to bring the Galaxy’s AI features to life , and Google could form similar partnerships with other companies. But this is Apple . Sure, they partner with companies like Google to implement certain features and improvements (Google has been paying big money to be the default search engine in Safari for years), but I can’t imagine they’d want to use a competing artificial intelligence technology if they were not absolutely necessary. . I see ads touting Apple’s proprietary AI as not only the “most advanced” on the market, but also the most secure. It’s harder to sell when half of your features are sent to Google servers and processed by Google AI.
However, if Apple really is as behind in the field of generative artificial intelligence as some think, they may have to commit to such a partnership. Investors seem to like it : Apple shares rose 2.5% and Alphabet shares jumped 6% on the news. Apple gets the AI technology it needs to implement features that other companies already have, and Google makes a ton of money from it. Not to mention, this move will lead to increased competition with OpenAI and Microsoft: Apple and Google will run on Gemini, and Microsoft’s Copilot will run on ChatGPT.
Of course, nothing is set in stone, and this is just based on reports. Apple has yet to announce anything specific in the AI space as far as features are concerned. Apple researchers continue to publish their work in the field of artificial intelligence, such as the company’s MM1 artificial intelligence model , an open-source image editor, and an image animator . While some or all of these developments may make it into actual iOS or macOS features, we have yet to see them.