During Wednesday’s fourth-quarter earnings call, Alphabet refrained from addressing an investor’s inquiry regarding Google’s AI collaboration with Apple. Rather than elaborating on how the tech conglomerate perceives AI partnerships, particularly in relation to empowering Siri, the question was overlooked entirely.
This silence speaks volumes—Alphabet appears unprepared to discuss the implications of this partnership on its primary business, which is becoming increasingly centered around AI.
Historically, the relationship between Google and Apple has proven mutually advantageous. Legal filings from the Department of Justice’s lawsuit against Google revealed that the search giant compensated Apple $20 billion to secure its position as the default search engine on Apple devices. In return, Google gained access to Apple’s extensive user base; the iPhone manufacturer recently announced that it has 2.5 billion active devices globally, highlighting the scale of this partnership.
The recent AI collaboration with Apple is speculated to cost approximately $1 billion annually. However, the immediate benefits for Google are not as evident as those derived from their search initiatives. In Google Search, users encounter advertisements prominently displayed at the top of search results. Conversely, ads within AI Mode, which may signify the future trajectory of Google’s search offerings, are still classified as an “experiment.”
Last May, Google announced its plans to integrate advertisements into AI Mode, a chatbot-like interface for Google Search. Presently, these ads are positioned either below or incorporated within the chatbot’s responses. Additionally, Google is exploring agentic shopping experiences, including the Shop with AI Mode feature, which seeks to facilitate seamless checkouts for consumers engaging in product-related inquiries.
In the meantime, Google’s rival in the AI space, Anthropic, is gearing up to target ad-supported AI through an upcoming Super Bowl advertisement, directly challenging the business models adopted by OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, and Google.
The long-term implications of these developments remain uncertain—and for now, they remain unanswered, at least publicly.
Overall, the Apple Siri collaboration received minimal attention during Alphabet’s earnings call on Wednesday. Sundar Pichai mentioned his satisfaction that Apple is “the preferred cloud provider” and will contribute to the development of “the next generation of Apple foundation models based on Gemini technology.” Google’s Chief Business Officer, Philipp Schindler, echoed these sentiments when referencing Apple.
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