pple users can exhale now. You are finally one step away from your long-awaited Siri upgrade. Apple has officially signed a multi-year agreement with Google to use Gemini’s AI models to power its next-gen version of Siri, according to a joint statement the companies released on X.

While Google's technology will make Siri much more capable and usable, Apple's own foundation models will do some of the heavy lifting, and its Private Cloud Compute will still keep things secure. Most Apple users are unlikely to notice, as long as they can reliably use Siri to answer questions and carry out tasks on their iPhones and other Apple devices.

Siri was one of the original voice assistants when Apple integrated it into the iPhone 4S in 2011, but it soon got lapped by Google Assistant, Amazon Alexa, and later ChatGPT Voice Mode.

Apple announced its Siri overhaul powered by Apple Intelligence at WWDC 2024. And while Apple changed Siri's animation and design, it eventually had to delay the 2025 launch of the new AI-powered Siri because it wasn't ready. As Apple Intelligence's signature feature, the delay reignited the narrative that Apple was falling behind in AI. Multiple members of Apple's AI team leaving for other competitors during 2025 only reinforced that point of view.

Nevertheless, only 13% — about 1 million of the 8 million people on the planet — are regularly using generative AI today. That number is expected to double over the next few years, but that still means we'll be at about 1/4 of the world's population using AI regularly by the end of the decade. It’s still early, in the grand scheme of things.