Apple embraces hybrid AI

Apple is preparing to let Google’s Gemini power the next version of Siri later in 2026, a shift Google Cloud chief Thomas Kurian confirmed onstage this week. (macrumors.com) Kurian said at Google Cloud Next 2026 that Apple is using Gemini for a “more personalized Siri” and for Apple Foundation models, putting one of Apple’s biggest software features on a rival’s model stack. (9to5mac.com) Apple has already built one outside-model handoff into Apple Intelligence: since 2024, Siri has been able to send some requests to ChatGPT if users enable the extension and approve the query. Apple says those requests can be sent without an OpenAI account, with IP addresses obscured and requests not stored by OpenAI. (support.apple.com, apple.com) Apple’s own AI system was introduced in June 2024 as a mix of on-device models and larger server-side models for harder tasks. Apple said then that Private Cloud Compute would handle those heavier requests on Apple silicon servers and keep personal data inaccessible even to Apple. (apple.com, security.apple.com) That architecture helps explain the new arrangement: Apple can keep Siri, the user interface, and privacy controls while swapping in different models underneath for different jobs. Apple’s developer tools already describe “tool calling,” which lets a model reach out to outside services or data sources to complete a request. (developer.apple.com, developer.apple.com) Apple pushed the same model-splitting idea to developers at Worldwide Developers Conference 2025, when it opened its Foundation Models framework for apps to use the on-device Apple Intelligence model. Apple said those app features could run offline and “protect their privacy,” while more advanced Apple Intelligence features still rely on cloud processing when needed. (apple.com, apple.com) The immediate pressure point is Siri itself. Apple marketed Apple Intelligence in 2024 around personal context and onscreen awareness, then spent 2025 shipping broader writing, translation, and visual features while the more ambitious Siri upgrade remained unfinished. (apple.com, apple.com) Google, meanwhile, gets a high-profile distribution win without owning the customer relationship on the iPhone. Apple still controls the device, the assistant, the settings menu, and the approval flow for outside services, much as it does today with ChatGPT inside Apple Intelligence. (support.apple.com, support.apple.com) Apple has not, in the sources reviewed here, published a matching standalone announcement about Gemini replacing or extending Siri. For now, the clearest public confirmation came from Google’s stage, while Apple’s own public materials still describe Siri as an Apple Intelligence interface that can call outside models with user permission. (macrumors.com, support.apple.com) If Apple follows that path later this year, Siri will look more like a traffic cop than a single brain: Apple-owned on the surface, but increasingly routed across Apple and partner models behind the scenes. (security.apple.com, developer.apple.com)