Apple could announce Google Gemini deal this fall

If you’re disappointed that the only AI model that will integrate with Apple devices so far will be ChatGPT, it looks like you won’t have to wait long for that to change. Apple will announce “at least” one more deal — to add Google Gemini — this fall, According to BloombergMarek Gurman in his Power on newsletter today.

In addition to chatbot integration, there is Apple Intelligence, which is expected to appear, initially, in a beta version only in the fall. Apple reportedly wants to make AI a path to direct profits, rather than just a set of features aimed at selling hardware products. As part of this, Gurman suggests that the company “could eventually” introduce subscription-only Apple Intelligence features.

However, it looks like that won’t happen for a while, and while Apple Intelligence is only available for the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max for now, who knows if the version of it that will arrive first will be enough to make a massive move iPhone update cycle. We don’t even know if the features will be good. In the meantime, he points out that Apple will still receive at least some AI money when it reduces sign-ups for its AI partners’ chatbot subscriptions for in-app purchases.

Third-party AI services could provide a welcome break for the Cupertino company while it slowly rolls out its own generative AI system. For the rest of us, it will mean more choice, even if having choice in many respects simply means variations on the algorithmic reconstruction of compressed data (or at least the possibility of hilariously wrong cooking suggestions).