Apple is in advanced negotiations with Google to integrate the latter’s powerful interactive artificial intelligence system, Gemini AI, into its iPhones, Bloomberg News reported Monday.
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If confirmed, the move would answer one of the big questions surrounding the iPhone maker’s AI strategy.
This has been criticized as lagging behind its rivals.
Asked by AFP about these discussions, Apple did not respond Monday morning.
The price of Alphabet, Google’s parent company, rose 6% following this information around 4:00 p.m. GMT. Apple’s rose 2%.
Apple is looking to partner with Google to update the new version of its iOS operating system, which will likely be present on its next iPhone, expected later this year.
Apple and Google are already engaged in a search engine partnership.
Under the deal, Google pays Apple billions of dollars each year to give the search engine a prominent place on the iPhone.
The long-running search engine deal is the subject of a landmark lawsuit by the U.S. Department of Justice for alleged antitrust violations.
Apple has also had discussions with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, to partner on generative AI, Bloomberg further indicates.
Apple CEO Tim Cook claimed last month that there were major updates in the works on the AI front.
However, some observers might be disappointed that the Apple group is partnering with others to deliver AI.
“For Google, any hypothetical agreement with Apple could mean that they actually “own” the generative AI of mobile devices (Android + iOS),” said Colin Sebastian, analyst at Baird.
“This also means that Apple may not be able to catch up with the leaders in generative artificial intelligence, at least not for the next generation,” he adds in a note.
