What Did Google Do This Week?
GOOGLE AND APPLE STILL FRENEMIES
Apple will integrate OpenAI’s GPT-4-o into Siri as part of iOS 18 — but Google Gemini could be on iPhones and MacBooks soon too. As part of this week’s WWDC announcements, Apple execs expanded on Apple’s AI ambitions and revealed their OpenAI partnership is not exclusive and pointed to future partnerships. Google Gemini only just missed out on being picked over OpenAI we’re hearing.
Apple aims to eventually allow users to select different AI models for use with Apple Intelligence. As things stand, ChatGPT will be the sole option when iOS launches in September, but Google’s Gemini is unlikely to be missed off the next round of availability.
Things are speeding up again at the Googleplex; the teams are expanding cloud operations via a partnership with software giants Oracle. Google-ers also been improved the Chromebook experience, are rolling out a new ad network (now +20 million Google TV viewers), and they’re solving traffic problems with AI traffic lights. Plus they want less Androids to get stolen, all while paying the new CFO nearly $10 million…
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SO WHAT?
At a glance, the alliance between Apple and OpenAI does not look good for Google. When rumours of the deal began surfacing a couple of weeks ago, many predicted an OpenAI search engine would replace Google as the Safari browser’s default on iPhones. We didn’t think this was the case because that would cost Apple a $20 billion deal. Instead, the deal positions OpenAI to get more users through a distribution deal.
Apple execs did say they’re integrating ChatGPT into iPhones first because Apple wanted to "start with the best" which likely irked Google execs, but they know they’ll be in the second release for the $20 billion reason above and Apple revealed that Google chips and graphics processing units (GPUs) have been used to train their own foundational AI models. The weird frenemy scenario remains intact.
The other likelihood for Gemini second will be the data side. Apple said, OpenAI will not log users’ requests and will not be able to train its AI systems models using data it collects on Apple products. Google is unlikely to want that deal (just like it doesn’t want to stop getting search data from the world’s richer side who use Apple. Time will tell how the deal gets shaped, and is by no means a done deal.
All this worked wonders for Apple’s share price, while people — investors, businesses and everyday users — remain unconvinced by big tech in the age of AI, antitrust trials and employee unrest. Google remains the busy, sprawling force it always is, and the numerous strides the company has taken this week across the ecosystem remind us that Google has a lot of irons in the fire; AI and otherwise.
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