Apple to pay Google $5 billion for Gemini foundations to AI
Apple may be paying Google five times as much as we originally thought in exchange for access to Google Gemini models, speculates Deepwater Asset Management analyst, Gene Munster, speaking to the Financial Times.
Speculation so far has suggested Apple to be paying a cool billion to Google for this, but the idea of it being five times that is easy to sustain, given the strategic importance of getting artificial intelligence right across Apple’s ecosystems.
Apple and Google have entered into a multi-year collaboration
The cash will be paid over the duration of the contract. It is worth noting that Google pays twenty billion to be the default search engine on Apple devices, and while that deal seems to be under a lot of pressure, it does help understand the value of attention.
As everyone knows, what’s happening is that Apple has selected Gemini as the foundation tech for future Apple Foundation models.
In a joint statement, the new partners said:
“Apple and Google have entered into a multi-year collaboration under which the next generation of Apple Foundation Models will be based on Google’s Gemini models and cloud technology. These models will help power future Apple Intelligence features, including a more personalized Siri coming this year.
“After careful evaluation, Apple determined that Google’s Al technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and is excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for Apple users. Apple Intelligence will continue to run on Apple devices and Private Cloud Compute, while maintaining Apple’s industry-leading privacy standards.”
In other words, while Google’s models and tech will be part of Apple’s Foundation Models, it will be on a kind of white label basis with no data shared with the Google service and no Google branding. It will also likely work a little differently as Apple will want to apply its own flourish on the front end. You can find out more about how it will be deployed here.
The report also tells us OpenAI made a deliberate decision not to partner with Apple as the custom model provider, choosing instead to focus on creating its own AI hardware with Apple’s old designer. We’ll see how that goes.
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