iOS 18 thought to debut with generative AI, but not from Apple

Predictions of iOS 18 as the UI to bring generative AI to the iPhone at WWDC 2024 have gone hand-in-hand with expectations that its new features would be based on the machine learning, MGIE and LLM research reportedly underway at Apple headquarters.

However, it now seems those assumptions will be subverted by a reality in which Apple AI will not in fact be 100% Apple - to start off with, at least. The typically cross-platform proprietary tech behemoth is reportedly in talks with Anthropic, OpenAI and Google to provide whatever inaugural AI services are to be baked into iOS 18, with the latter as the front-runner thus far.

Accordingly, any kind of first-gen 'AI Siri' would in fact be based on Gemini, according to this new report. The potentially counter-intuitive decision on Apple's part could have its upsides for the company, not the least in terms of all the money that might be made on licenses for generative AI-based search; in addition, why invest in all that cloud infrastructure and services when it could be provided by a third party?

In addition, should users find their iPhones less secure or private once they are AI-powered, Apple can just shift the blame onto their partner in those services. On the other hand, those same users just might balk en masse if that same AI is not as on-device as they might expect.

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