SAN FRANCISCO: Tech giants Apple and Google announced Monday a multi-year partnership that will see Apple&#39;s next-generation artificial intelligence features, including its Siri assistant, be powered by Google&#39;s Gemini technology.&nbsp;The collaboration marks a significant shift for Apple, which has traditionally developed its core technologies in-house.&nbsp;A joint statement said Apple selected Google&#39;s AI technology after a &quot;careful evaluation&quot; determined it provided &quot;the most capable foundation&quot; for the iPhone-maker&#39;s AI ambitions.&nbsp;The announcement represents a rare alliance between two companies that have long competed in the smartphone market, where Apple&#39;s iOS and Google&#39;s Android operating systems dominate globally.&nbsp;However, the two rivals have maintained a lucrative partnership for years, with Google paying Apple billions of dollars annually to remain the default search engine on iPhones and other Apple devices.&nbsp;That arrangement has faced scrutiny from regulators, with the US Justice Department arguing in an antitrust case that the deal helps Google maintain its search monopoly, though a judge said the arrangement could continue.&nbsp;Financial details of the AI arrangement were not provided.&nbsp;Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities said the partnership was &quot;a major validation moment for Google&quot; and &quot;a stepping stone&quot; for Apple to get its AI strategy on track into 2026 and beyond.&nbsp;Apple reportedly also considered partnerships with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Perplexity.&nbsp;The company co-founded by Steve Jobs is largely perceived to have stumbled in efforts to roll out AI capabilities across its products and last month announced the head of its artificial intelligence team was stepping down.&nbsp;Apple last year delayed the release of an improved Siri digital assistant and is now promising it for later in the year.&nbsp;Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and other tech rivals have been releasing ever-improved AI models and features in a fierce race to lead the sector.&nbsp;Despite the collaboration, Apple emphasized that its in-house AI system, Apple Intelligence, will be used to power its iPhones and iPads at the device-only level, maintaining what it described as &quot;industry-leading privacy standards.&quot;

Artificial Intelligence

Apple and Google announced a multi-year partnership to power Apple’s next-generation AI, including Siri, with Google’s Gemini, marking a rare alliance as Apple seeks to catch up in AI while stressing privacy and competition pressures.

Apple chooses Google's Gemini AI to power Siri

ROME: Italy&#39;s competition authority said Monday it had fined US tech giant Apple 98 million euros ($115 million) for allegedly abusing its dominant position in the mobile app market.&nbsp;The AGCM said in a statement that Apple had violated privacy regulations for third-party developers in a market where it &quot;holds a super-dominant position through its App Store&quot;.&nbsp;The body said its investigation had established the &quot;restrictive nature&quot; of the &quot;privacy rules imposed by Apple... on third-party developers of apps distributed through the App Store&quot;.&nbsp;The rules of Apple&#39;s App Tracking Transparency (ATT) &quot;are imposed unilaterally and harm the interests of Apple&#39;s commercial partners&quot;, according to the AGCM statement.&nbsp;French antitrust authorities earlier this year handed Apple a 150-million euro fine over its app tracking privacy feature.&nbsp;Authorities elsewhere in Europe have also opened similar probes over ATT, which Apple promotes as a privacy safeguard.&nbsp;The feature, introduced by Apple in 2021, requires apps to obtain user consent through a pop-up window before tracking their activity across other apps and websites.&nbsp;If they decline, the app loses access to information on that user which enables ad targeting.&nbsp;Critics have accused Apple of using the system to promote its own advertising services while restricting competitors.

Gadgets

Italy fined Apple €98 million for allegedly abusing its App Store dominance, imposing restrictive privacy rules on third-party developers via App Tracking Transparency, which critics say favors Apple’s own advertising while harming competitors.

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Apple chooses Google's Gemini AI to power Siri

Italy fines Apple nearly 100m euros over app privacy feature

Apple chooses Google's Gemini AI to power Siri