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Fourteen years after Siri made its debut, promising us a sci-fi future where we’d chat naturally with our phones, Apple has quietly admitted defeat. The company that revolutionized voice assistants with the iPhone 4S in 2011 is closing talks with Google and is rumored to start paying Google roughly $1 billion (€867 million) annually to make its virtual assistant actually work in the AI era.
According to Bloomberg, Apple is finalizing a deal with Alphabet that will replace Siri’s aging technology with a custom version of Google’s Gemini AI model—a 1.2 trillion parameter powerhouse that dwarfs everything Apple currently has running. For context, Apple’s cloud-based AI system uses 150 billion parameters. That’s roughly eight times less complex than what Google is bringing to the table.
The revamped Siri is expected to launch next spring, likely with iOS 26.4 around March. And before you panic about Google suddenly knowing everything about your iPhone habits, Apple insists the Gemini model will run on its own Private Cloud Compute servers, keeping user data firmly away from Google’s reach. The setup means Gemini handles the heavy lifting, complex summarization, and multi-step task planning, while Apple’s own models continue managing other Siri functions.
It’s a pragmatic move that echoes Apple’s historical playbook: lean on someone else’s technology while building your own. The company did this with Google Maps until Apple Maps was ready, with Weather Channel data until it wasn’t, and with Intel chips until its own silicon could take over. Now it’s Google’s AI holding the fort while Apple races to catch up with its own 1 trillion parameter model, reportedly targeting a 2026 release.
When Your Biggest Competitor Becomes Your Lifeline
The timing couldn’t be more telling. Apple spent months evaluating AI models from OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google before landing on Gemini. The decision apparently came down to cost (Anthropic’s fees were simply too high), but also capability. Google’s model uses a Mixture-of-Experts architecture, which activates only a fraction of its trillion-plus parameters for each query, keeping processing costs manageable while maintaining impressive performance.
The irony is delicious. Google already paid Apple $20 billion in 2022 to remain the default search engine on Apple devices—a figure that may have increased since. Now it’s adding another billion to keep Siri from embarrassing itself in 2025. For Google, this is both a validation of its AI prowess and a strategic win: Gemini will soon power hundreds of millions of devices, gaining massive real-world testing at scale - and Google gets paid handsomely for the privilege.
But there’s a darker reading here too. Apple’s willingness to outsource something as core as Siri’s intelligence suggests the company is genuinely worried about falling too far behind. The AI race has moved faster than Apple’s traditionally cautious, perfection-focused development cycles can accommodate. While competitors like Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic iterate rapidly in public, Apple’s behind-the-scenes approach has left it scrambling.
The deal also raises questions about what happens in markets where Google services are restricted. In China, where Google is blocked, Apple plans to deploy its own models alongside localized content filters developed with partners like Alibaba. It’s reportedly explored collaboration with Baidu as well. The geopolitical complexity of AI infrastructure is becoming impossible to ignore.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, who broke the story, offered a sobering caveat: “There’s no guarantee users will embrace it, that it will work seamlessly or that it can undo years of damage to the Siri brand.” After more than a decade of “I don’t know” responses and missed queries, Siri’s reputation needs more than just better AI under the hood - it needs users to actually give it another chance.
Still, if there’s any company that can pull off a comeback narrative, it’s Apple. The question is whether Google’s billion-dollar brain transplant arrives in time to save a patient who’s been deteriorating for years. We’ll find out next spring when the new Siri starts talking back—hopefully with something more intelligent to say.
In Other News
Brain development lasts far longer than previously thought. Scientists from the Allen Institute and a global consortium published the most detailed developmental maps of the mammalian brain to date, creating an unprecedented blueprint that traces how brain cells emerge, mature, and organize from embryonic development through adulthood. The groundbreaking research, detailed in 12 studies published November 4-5 in Nature family journals, reveals that brain development continues far longer than previously understood and identifies critical windows when interventions might help children with neurodevelopmental disorders.
Scientists discover protective brain cells that fight Alzheimer’s. Researchers from Mount Sinai, Max Planck Institute, and Rockefeller University identified a previously unknown population of brain immune cells called microglia that could revolutionize Alzheimer’s treatment. Published November 5 in Nature, the study reveals that microglia with reduced levels of the transcription factor PU.1 and increased CD28 receptor expression act as molecular guardians, suppressing inflammation and slowing disease progression. Despite representing only a small fraction of brain immune cells, these protective microglia exert brain-wide anti-inflammatory effects in mouse models. The discovery offers hope for 55 million people worldwide living with dementia and opens doors to targeted microglia-based immunotherapies that could modify the course of Alzheimer’s disease.
Google eyes deeper Anthropic stake at $350+ billion valuation. Google is in early discussions to significantly increase its investment in AI startup Anthropic at a potential valuation exceeding $350 billion (€303 billion), according to Business Insider. The talks come weeks after Anthropic announced massive cloud partnerships with both Google and Amazon—the latter recently opened an $11 billion AI data center campus in Indiana exclusively for Anthropic’s models. Amazon has invested $8 billion total in Anthropic, while Google has committed $3 billion. The potential new funding round reflects the intensifying race between tech giants to dominate next-generation AI models, with Amazon and Google backing Anthropic while Microsoft and Nvidia have invested billions in rival OpenAI. Anthropic’s revenue is projected to reach $7 billion annually, powering over 300,000 businesses.
SpaceX buys another $2.6 billion in wireless spectrum. Elon Musk’s SpaceX is purchasing $2.6 billion (€2.3 billion) worth of wireless spectrum licenses from telecommunications firm EchoStar, building on a separate $17 billion (€14.7 billion) deal announced in September. The acquisition will help accelerate SpaceX’s efforts to offer service directly to mobile phones from its satellites in space, marking another major infrastructure investment in the company’s Starlink satellite constellation. The move signals SpaceX’s ambitions to become a major player in direct-to-device satellite communications.
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