Apparently Apple could need Google's help with AI

With just six months to go until the presumed September release of iOS 18 and iPhone 16, intel on new features has has been fairly scarce so far. One thing we do know from Tim Cook himself is that Apple is keen to keep up (or catch up) with the explosion in artificial intelligence, but the question has been how.

Apple is rumoured to be working on a large language model of its own under the codename Ajax, but this presumably still has some way to go compared to offerings from the likes of Google and Open AI. And it seems that the solution for now may to bring in one of those companies.

Bloomberg's regular Apple observer Mark Gurman has suggested that the next iPhone release could get an artificial intelligence upgrade courtesy of Google's Gemini. He says Apple is negotiating with the search giant to build Gemini AI into  iPhones. This could potentially power an upgrade for Siri and enhance the App Store for AI developers and cloud-based text and image generation.

A deal would mean that Apple gets access to the AI-powered tech it doesn't currently have in-house, helping it keep up with Samsung Galaxy phones and Google's own Pixel. Meanwhile, Google would score another win over Microsoft and OpenAI on the heels of its deal to provide Galaxy AI-branded features for the Samsung Galaxy S24 (we actually found these to be a bit hit-and-miss in our Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra review). 

However, Apple has reportedly also been speaking to OpenAi about using Chat GPT, and neither company has commented on the possibility of an agreement. A deal could also draw the attention of competition regulators, who are already unhappy with Google's position as the default search provider on iPhones. Google's rebranding of Gemini (formerly Bard) has also hit some setbacks with the controversy over its AI image generation.

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