Gemini vs. Siri: AI Race

Google's AI Advances

At Google I/O 2025, Google revealed a number of new AI capabilities, including Gemini 2.5 Flash and tools for generative video, strengthening its leadership in AI. Meanwhile, Apple is having difficulty releasing basic AI updates and has delayed its Siri upgrade by another year.

Apple integrated some AI into iOS, but Google essentially rebuilt the entire framework. At Google I/O this week, Google announced numerous AI features across its product range, highlighting Apple's отставание. Last year at WWDC 2024, Apple introduced Apple Intelligence, a set of AI services and features that began rolling out last fall. However, many of the more interesting features are still not available, even in beta. Apple also recently announced a year-long delay for its highly anticipated Siri upgrade.

Google's AI Progress

Google was initially behind in the AI race despite years of using and showcasing AI. However, after ChatGPT's debut, Google had to quickly launch Bard. Now, the renamed chatbot, Gemini, is keeping pace with or surpassing ChatGPT in many areas. At Google I/O 2025, Google announced Gemini 2.5 Flash and other features like generative AI video, upgrading from Veo 2 to Veo 3, and Flow, a video editor for generative AI video. It's challenging to keep up with all of Google's I/O announcements.

Apple's Challenges

Meanwhile, Apple is struggling to release minor AI features. A significant issue for Apple has been its commitment to privacy. Because Apple values not collecting user data like Google and other companies, it is more difficult for them to train their AI, as they can only use licensed data. Apple typically waits for other companies to experiment with new technologies before entering the market, but this may not be possible with AI. AI is constantly improving, but Apple is struggling to perform notification summaries effectively.

In addition to Apple's privacy stance, another reason for Apple's AI struggles is that its executives did not believe in AI until 2023, nearly a decade after Google began investing in it. It wasn't until an executive used ChatGPT to create an application that he recognized AI's potential in Apple's products. Consequently, he instructed Apple's software engineers to incorporate as many AI features as possible into iOS 18, which was the wrong strategy. This resulted in several AI features that did not function effectively. Apple should have prioritized improving Siri before moving on to other AI features.

Apple also realized that not all AI can be processed on-device, which conflicts with its privacy principles. Instead of using the cloud, Apple developed the Privacy Compute, which creates a secure environment for privacy data, ensuring that Apple does not technically collect it. However, this is irrelevant if the AI features are ineffective.

Furthermore, Apple poached Google's head of AI eight years ago, which has yielded almost no progress for Apple in the AI race. This likely means that he will be leaving the company soon. While others focused on AI, Apple concentrated on XR and unveiled Vision Pro in 2023, a costly virtual reality headset that launched in early 2024. It did not sell well, and even those who purchased it have reported infrequent use. Apple seems to have shifted its focus from Vision Pro to AI entirely. However, Google has not forgotten about XR. Last year, it announced Android XR, a platform developed with Samsung for Extended Reality devices. It announced Project Moohan with Samsung, which is an Android XR headset similar to Vision Pro, set to launch later this year. Additionally, Google formally announced its own XR Glasses at Google I/O this week and allowed attendees to try them on. Android XR includes virtual and augmented reality and runs on Gemini, providing immersive visuals and ambient intelligence. Apple is now falling behind in both AI and XR.

Google's Advantage

Google has a significant advantage over other AI companies due to Google Search. Because many people use Google Search, Google has access to extensive data to train its AI. However, this is also a problem. By using data crawled and indexed by Google's search engine, Gemini or Google Search's AI Mode can provide information to users, reducing traffic to the websites that created the content. This is already a concern for Google, as it is negatively impacting publishers. If Google puts publishers out of business by reducing their traffic, it will lose access to the data needed to train its AI, making publishers a necessity for Google.

Google's open ecosystem allows its AI features to function seamlessly across its products, from Gmail to Google Docs to Android. Apple opposes this approach for privacy reasons, which could be its downfall. While Apple produces excellent hardware, AI is clearly not its strength.

Apple's Potential Comeback

To make a comeback, Apple may need to acquire one or two AI companies. While they are partnering with OpenAI for ChatGPT with Siri, it is unlikely that they would buy OpenAI, given Microsoft's significant investment and use of ChatGPT for Microsoft CoPilot. However, they could acquire Anthropic, the company behind Claude AI. Does Apple have a chance in 2025? No. In the next 5 years? Possibly.