Apple’s internal “Glenwood” project, tasked with fixing Siri, has led to a $1 billion-a-year deal with its biggest rival: Google. Google’s 1.2 trillion parameter Gemini model will serve as the “interim” AI engine for the new “Linwood” Siri.
This decision was made after an extensive “bake-off” where Google’s “ultrapowerful” AI outperformed models from OpenAI and Anthropic. It will be used for the most complex “summariser” and “planner” functions, which are far beyond the capabilities of Apple’s 150-billion parameter models.
The “Linwood” Siri will be a hybrid system. Apple’s tech will handle simple requests, while Google’s AI will manage multi-step, complex tasks. This allows Apple to instantly close the AI gap it has been facing.
The project, overseen by Craig Federighi and Mike Rockwell, is a reluctant admission of Apple’s AI lag. While management is pushing for an in-house replacement, this “temporary” deal could last for years.
To maintain its privacy-first stance, Apple is hosting the Gemini model on its own “walled-off” Private Cloud Compute servers. This critical distinction means Google provides the AI, but Apple controls the data.
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