Apple iPhones Might Allow Gemini To Serve As AI Assistant, Supporting Siri, By End Of Year

Google and Apple are about to reach an agreement to integrate Gemini with the iPhone. According to reports, this will enable Gemini to function as an AI assistant on Apple devices, assisting Siri, Apple’s native voice-based bot, in providing answers to user queries.

Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated during Wednesday’s hearing in Google search monopoly trial that the company anticipates signing a Gemini agreement with Apple by the middle of this year. The two companies have reportedly already held a number of discussions, even though the transaction has not yet been finalised. If all goes according to plan, Gemini on iPhone might be accessible by the end of the year.

Pichai responded to questions about the rumoured agreement by calling it “Correct” and providing information about his meeting with Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple.

“He [Cook] was trying to understand our plans for how we’re evolving AI technologies, our roadmap,” Pichai said, adding that the two also had discussions about “Gemini app distribution as well.”

Notably, when Apple Intelligence was first introduced in June last year, Apple senior vice president Craig Federighi had indicated that the AI service might be integrated with Gemini. “We want to enable users ultimately to choose the models they want, maybe Google Gemini in the future,” Federighi had said.

Gemini integration with the iPhone would resemble Siri’s current ChatGPT integration, which debuted with iOS 18 last year. It is an optional feature that allows Siri to use OpenAI’s chatbot to compose text, generate pictures using prompts and analyse them, or answer intricate questions. As part of Siri-ChatGPT integration, Siri automatically requests authorisation before using the third-party AI model to respond to user queries or perform tasks. 

There have been other recent reports as well that pointed to a Gemini-iPhone integration. A MacRumors report in February noted that an iOS 18.4 beta had references to Google as a choice of model in Apple Intelligence.