Big Google Bet

Plus: EU app stores, Anthropic on China chips, humans steering AI.

Roko's Basilisk
January 22, 2026

Here’s what’s on our plate today:

🧠 Apple hands Siri’s brain to Google’s Gemini.
⚡ Quick hits on Setapp’s shutdown, China chips, Anthropic versus xAI.
🧰 Smarter assistants, a second brain, & a faster Mac.
🗳️ Poll on trusting Apple when Google powers Siri.

Let’s dive in. No floaties needed…

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The Laboratory

Why Apple handed Siri’s brain to Google

Ever since the launch of the iPhone in 2007, Apple has been at the forefront of innovation in both hardware and software of personal computing.

Over the years, the company has successfully pivoted multiple times, launched dedicated online services, designed capable chips, and remained one of the most valuable companies in the world.

However, while Apple has managed to make the most of technological advances, not all of the company's bets have paid off. A fine example of such a bet was Project Titan. Under this project, Apple spent billions over a decade developing an electric vehicle. But the project was cancelled in 2024 due to insurmountable challenges in achieving full autonomy, high costs, and a shift in focus toward generative AI.

Apple turning to Google’s Gemini for Siri signals a new phase of the AI race, where scale and partnerships matter more than going it alone. Photo Credit: TechCrunch.

When Siri fell behind

Yet, Apple's AI journey over the past two years has been marked by ambition, delay, and public embarrassment. And it seems the company is now willing to let go of its ambition to keep pace with AI development.

Apple is now looking to Google to help build its next-generation intelligence features, redefining how the world should think about the AI race. At the heart of the new definition lies the simple truth: even the most valuable company in the world cannot go it alone in artificial intelligence.

The Gemini deal

Apple has decided to use Google’s Gemini models to power a revamped version of Siri later this year under a multi-year agreement, strengthening ties between the two companies.

The deal is a significant win for Google, whose AI already underpins Samsung’s Galaxy AI. Integrating Gemini into Siri gives Google access to Apple’s installed base of more than two billion active devices. Google said Apple chose Gemini after evaluating multiple options and that the models will also support other future Apple Intelligence features.

Apple had previously integrated OpenAI’s ChatGPT into Siri in late 2024 to handle complex queries, and that arrangement remains unchanged. However, analysts say Apple’s decision shifts OpenAI into a secondary, opt-in role rather than the default intelligence layer.

The arrangement will see Apple pay approximately $1 billion annually for access to Google's sophisticated AI models. In return, Apple gets to leapfrog months or years of development work. Google, meanwhile, extends its AI reach to Apple's ecosystem of more than two billion active devices.

Apple's AI journey over the past two years has been marked by ambition, delay, and public embarrassment. The company announced in March 2025 that it was delaying features that would supercharge Siri, including the ability to take action within other apps. That feature was expected to be released that spring.

The promised capabilities were not minor improvements. Apple had demonstrated that Siri could answer questions like "When is my mom's flight landing?" by intelligently pulling information from emails and cross-referencing flight data.

Getting the correct information from your messages requires common sense: you're asking about a current trip, not an email from 2019 or 2022. The Siri we currently know lacks that sort of common sense.

Internal frustration matched external criticism. Bloomberg reported that Apple executives called the delay "ugly and "embarrassing" in a meeting with worried staffers. The company quietly removed advertisements promoting AI features that had not shipped, an unusual admission of overpromising from a company known for underpromising and overdelivering.

Why Google won

The company also evaluated alternatives. It tested options from OpenAI and Anthropic but decided to go with Gemini after deciding Anthropic's fees were too high. Reports suggested Anthropic wanted $1.5 billion annually, making Google's $1 billion price tag comparatively attractive, particularly given the companies' existing $20 billion search agreement.

The deal also comes at a good time for Google, which has been locked in battle against OpenAI for supremacy in the AI race.

Google’s AI revival

Google's position in this partnership would have seemed unlikely two years ago. When OpenAI launched ChatGPT in late 2022, Google was largely caught flat-footed. Reports emerged of internal code red alerts and rushed product launches that sometimes backfired publicly.

That narrative has reversed. Gemini 3 now sits at the top of benchmark leaderboards for tasks such as text generation, image editing, image processing, and text-to-image conversion.

The company's consumer reach has grown substantially. The Gemini app has 650 million monthly active users, and AI Overviews has 2 billion monthly users. Google's stock reflected this momentum, briefly pushing its market capitalization above $4 trillion and past Apple for the first time since 2019.

Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives called the Apple deal a "major validation moment for Google." With Gemini already powering Samsung's Galaxy AI features, the Apple partnership makes Google's technology the dominant AI backbone across both major mobile platforms.

Another interesting thing to note is that Apple has historically been a big proponent of user privacy, something Google is not known for. In such a scenario, it would be interesting to see how the companies align their values to come together.

How will Siri work now?

The technical architecture addresses Apple's historical commitment to user privacy. Under the arrangement, Google's Gemini model will handle Siri's summarizer and planner functions, running on Apple's servers, meaning no user data will be shared with Google.

Apple uses a privacy buffer layer that strips personal identifiers from queries before they are processed. This approach mirrors the company's existing ChatGPT integration, where OpenAI processes requests without linking them to user data.

The model itself represents a substantial upgrade. Apple will access a 1.2 trillion-parameter artificial intelligence model. The current cloud-based version of Apple Intelligence uses 150 billion parameters. More parameters generally enable more sophisticated responses, though training quality and architecture also matter significantly.

OpenAI’s reduced role

As for OpenAI, Apple's existing ChatGPT integration is not disappearing. The company stated it was not making changes to the OpenAI agreement. However, the nature of that relationship has shifted fundamentally.

Apple's decision to use Google's Gemini models for Siri shifts OpenAI into a more supporting role, with ChatGPT remaining positioned to handle complex, opt-in queries rather than serving as the default intelligence layer, according to Parth Talsania, CEO of Equisights Research.

This distinction matters. ChatGPT becomes an optional tool for specific tasks rather than the foundation of Apple's AI capabilities. Users who want ChatGPT's capabilities will still have access, but Gemini will power the everyday interactions that define most people's experience with their devices.

This also reflects a broader shift in the AI race. OpenAI reportedly responded to Google's Gemini 3 launch with internal urgency. The company has since released GPT-5.2 and continues developing new capabilities. However, the Apple partnership represents a distribution advantage that will be difficult to replicate.

Distribution wins the AI race

With the deal, Apple is aiming to debut its delayed personalized Siri features in the spring of 2026, likely coinciding with the release of iOS 26.4. That timeline finally delivers capabilities demonstrated nearly two years ago at WWDC 2024.

According to 9to5Mac, Apple is not abandoning its own AI development. 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.

This follows Apple's historical pattern of relying on partners while developing internal capabilities, as it did with mapping, weather, and processor technology.

A temporary truce?

The broader question is whether this deal represents a temporary bridge or a permanent restructuring of the AI market. Google's Gemini now sits at the center of both major mobile platforms. The collaboration raises questions about opportunities for smaller AI companies to establish partnerships with major consumer platforms.

For users, the immediate impact should be positive. A more capable Siri has been promised for years. The technology to deliver it now exists.

Whether Apple and Google can execute together better than Apple could alone will determine whether this partnership fulfills its promise or merely represents the next chapter in a story of AI ambitions meeting practical limits.

At least for the time being, Apple seems to be conceding that it cannot keep pace with the pace of development in the AI race. In the long run, as the company continues to work on its internal models, it would be interesting to see if its Apple Intelligence models can redefine AI the way the iPhone redefined smartphones, or if Apple will rely on partners for its AI capabilities.

Quick Bits, No Fluff

Setapp Mobile: EU iOS app store closes in February after MacPaw rejects Apple’s marketplace terms.
China Chip Sales: Anthropic’s CEO calls selling AI chips to China “crazy,” like nukes for North Korea.
Humans & AI: NYT examines Anthropic and xAI’s contrasting approaches to keeping humans in charge of powerful systems.

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