The news that Apple’s Siri runs on Google Gemini is still rippling through the tech world. On the surface, it’s a practical move: Apple needed to enhance Siri, and Gemini, flaws and all, was available, scalable, and could integrate fast. But for those of us who’ve watched Apple play the long game, the implications run deeper.
Because let’s be honest: this isn’t just a case of bolting a new chatbot under the hood. It’s Apple, the company that defined vertical integration in consumer tech, putting a critical user experience layer—Siri—on top of technology it doesn’t control. And worse, it’s technology made by its fiercest platform rival.
When Your Interface Becomes Someone Else’s Brain
Gemini isn’t just any LLM. It’s Google’s flagship model, though one still fighting for trust after a rough public rollout marred by hallucinations, tone-deaf responses, and factual errors. And it’s made by the same company behind Android, the only meaningful competitor to iOS.
That’s what makes this so striking. Apple didn’t just partner with a third party. It outsourced intelligence at the most personal level, the voice assistant users interact with daily, to a direct rival.
It’s like Ferrari putting a Ford engine under the hood and asking us not to notice what happened to the growl.
The Strategic Peril of Relying on a Competitor’s Core Tech
Apple has always been about ownership, from silicon to software, from privacy promises to platform polish. Handing off the brains of Siri to Google risks turning the iPhone into a glossy shell delivering someone else’s technology. And not just any technology: Gemini is still behind in quality and accuracy when compared to alternatives like ChatGPT.
Sure, Apple will likely place “Apple Intelligence” guardrails around Gemini, maybe even build custom tuning on top. But at the end of the day, the core model isn’t theirs. That means updates, roadmap changes, performance quirks, and philosophical differences around data and privacy are all out of Apple’s hands.
It’s Not Germany-and-Russian-Gas Level Risk, But Still …
There’s a historical parallel here, albeit a bit exaggerated for effect: Germany’s energy dependency on Russian gas before the Ukraine invasion. Nobody thought it would be a problem, until it was.
Apple isn’t that naïve. But anytime you entrust critical infrastructure to a third party—especially one with different incentives and a track record of eroding trust—you’re betting that the situation will always stay aligned.
For Apple, a company that spent two decades eliminating exactly this kind of dependency (PowerPC to Intel, Intel to M-series, ARM to custom silicon), this feels oddly out of character.
Those Who Don’t Learn From History …
Back in 2005, Steve Jobs took the stage and announced Apple’s transition from Motorola to Intel chips. His explanation? There were products Apple simply couldn’t build with Motorola’s roadmap. They needed better silicon to realize their vision. In 2020, Apple did it again, shifting from Intel to their own M-series chips (rumor has it that buggy Intel processors acted as the “inflection point” that sent Apple down the roll-your-own chip path).
I predict same pattern will unfold here.
Today, Apple needs Gemini to level up Siri quickly. But tomorrow? As LLMs become core to every feature, every workflow, every user interaction, Apple won’t accept being a layer on top of Google’s AI. Not forever.
So I’ll call it now: by 2036, Apple will announce a new version of Siri, powered by an in-house LLM.
Whether it’s an “A” chip adjacent processor optimized for LLM inference, or a full Apple‑trained model built with on-device privacy in mind, the endgame is obvious. For now, Apple’s Siri runs on Google Gemini. But Gemini is a stopgap. Apple is buying time while it builds the future.
And when that future lands, it will be with the same fanfare as every Apple silicon launch: faster, safer, and—most importantly for them—completely under their control.
Jayson Adams is a technology entrepreneur, artist, and the award-winning and best-selling author of two science fiction thrillers, Ares and Infernum. You can see more at www.jaysonadams.com.