AppleJun 8, 2026
Apple’s rebuilt Siri will run on Google’s Gemini
At WWDC 2026 — Tim Cook’s farewell keynote — Apple unveiled a completely rebuilt assistant, “Siri AI,” that leans on a custom, Apple-tuned version of Google’s Gemini running in Apple’s data centers under a reported $1-billion-a-year deal. On-device tasks like dictation and on-screen awareness stay on Apple Silicon; heavier reasoning routes to the Gemini-powered cloud via Private Cloud Compute. Siri also gets its own dedicated app, with a beta arriving later this year alongside iOS 27.
Why it matters: Apple paying its biggest rival to power Siri is a stunning admission of where the AI race stands — and the clearest sign that even Apple couldn’t go it alone on frontier models.