Apple has a 1.2 trillion parameter problem: that’s the size of the Google Gemini AI model it reportedly needs to license for $1 billion a year to make Siri competitive. This “ultrapowerful” model dwarfs Apple’s own 150-billion parameter cloud AI, highlighting the significant technology gap Apple is racing to close. This deal is an “interim solution” to fundamentally rebuild Siri’s underlying technology and launch a new, more capable assistant by next spring.
The decision to partner with Google was made after an extensive evaluation of all top AI models, including OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Anthropic’s Claude. Apple’s leadership, including software chief Craig Federighi, ultimately selected Gemini to power the “Glenwood” project—the internal effort to fix Siri. The new assistant, code-named “Linwood,” will use this massive model for its “summariser” and “planner” functions, which are key to handling complex, multi-part requests.
Despite the $1 billion price tag, Apple is imposing strict privacy controls. The 1.2 trillion parameter Google model will run on Apple’s own Private Cloud Compute servers. This “walled-off” system ensures that all user data is processed within Apple’s ecosystem and is never visible to Google. This structure allows Apple to leverage its rival’s superior AI without compromising its core privacy-first brand promise.
The partnership will be kept “behind-the-scenes.” Apple will not publicly advertise Google’s role, treating it as a technology supplier, not a co-branded partner. This is a starkly different approach from the visible Safari search deal. This deal is also separate from earlier, failed talks about a direct Gemini chatbot integration, which Apple has instead done with OpenAI as an optional feature.
Apple’s reliance on Google is not intended to be permanent. The company’s own AI teams are working on a 1 trillion parameter model to eventually replace Gemini, hoping to have it ready as early as next year. However, with Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro already topping AI leaderboards and constantly improving, this $1 billion “temporary fix” could become a long-term dependency.