[HN Gopher] Apple nears $1B Google deal for custom Gemini model ...
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       Apple nears $1B Google deal for custom Gemini model to power Siri
        
       Author : jbredeche
       Score  : 30 points
       Date   : 2025-11-05 19:43 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (9to5mac.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (9to5mac.com)
        
       | Noaidi wrote:
       | So now it does not matter what platform you choose for your
       | smartphone, you cannot escape Google AI surveillance. Well you
       | can shut it off on the iPhone I guess, but that means no more
       | privacy focused Apple Intelligence.
       | 
       | Next to all the money they poured into Liquid glAss, this will be
       | the worst investment Apple has ever made.
        
         | nomel wrote:
         | This assumes they'll make the data available to Google. With
         | all their secure "Private Cloud Compute" stuffs they
         | advertised, there's a good chance it will not be shared.
        
         | flounder3 wrote:
         | OP's 9to5mac article states:                 Also under the
         | agreement, Google's model will reportedly run on Apple's own
         | servers, which in practice means that no user data will be
         | shared with Google. Instead, they won't leave Apple's Private
         | Cloud Compute structure.
         | 
         | Bloomberg states:                 The model will run on Apple's
         | own Private Cloud Compute servers, ensuring that user data
         | remains walled off from Google's infrastructure.
        
         | lawn wrote:
         | GrapheneOS.
        
           | pcdoodle wrote:
           | patiently waiting to see which snap dragon will supported.
           | Hopefully something smallish.
        
       | ChrisArchitect wrote:
       | Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-11-05/apple-
       | pla... (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45826664)
        
       | ml-anon wrote:
       | If true this is the deal of the century. Apple pay 1/14th of a
       | Wang per year for a top tier model whereas Meta burn multiple
       | Wangs a year in salary alone and get garbage.
        
         | thorncorona wrote:
         | When is this not true?
         | 
         | It is cheaper to buy GPUs than to develop the capabilities to
         | develop GPUs.
        
       | pcdoodle wrote:
       | On device models please. My computer should work for me.
        
       | prossercj wrote:
       | This is remarkable if you consider how much it must wound Apple's
       | pride to make this deal with their main rival in the smartphone
       | software space, especially after all the fuss they made about
       | "Apple Intelligence". It's a tacit admission that Google is just
       | better at this kind of thing.
        
       | jerojero wrote:
       | I really hope Apple is working hard on improving on-device models
       | for their use case so they can get out of this.
        
       | Workaccount2 wrote:
       | The question is if Apple will buy TPUs to run it too.
       | 
       | $1B for the software and $1B for the hardware, every few years.
        
       | bnchrch wrote:
       | Today I asked to my homepod:
       | 
       | > "Hey Siri, whens the next Formula 1 race in Montreal"
       | 
       | and she responds with the same infuriating answer I typically get
       | 
       | > "Hmm, I found some interesting results on the web, I can show
       | them to you if you ask again from your iPhone"
       | 
       | I don't care what pride Apple has to swallow, or if they have to
       | layoff 10,000 people.
       | 
       | I just want my device ecosystem to be able to do what its
       | competitors have been able to do for a decade, or what Ive been
       | able to build myself for the last 3 years. A working and useful
       | voice assistant.
       | 
       | At this point Im convinced Tim Cook could sit at a terminal
       | himself and ship a better version of what Apple has in an
       | afternoon.
        
       | ddxv wrote:
       | Mind blowing they couldn't get this to work. It's struck me
       | lately that the models don't seem to matter anymore, they're all
       | equally good.
       | 
       | The UX and integration with regular phone features is what makes
       | the tool shine and by now there should be plenty of open source
       | models and know how to create their own.
       | 
       | What is Google offering that Apple can't figure out on their own?
       | 
       | Maybe people don't personal assitant AI enough to justify the
       | investment? My phone has probably 6 or 7 AI tools that have
       | talking features that I don't ever explore.
        
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       (page generated 2025-11-05 23:02 UTC)