Apple, AI, Google, Nvidia, & a lack of clarification

There seem to be a dozen ways to address Apple's upcoming AI strategy, and they all can't be true at once. I doubt Apple will shed much light on this specifically, but we'll be able to infer a lot based on what is shared during WWDC.

Since Apple announced its partnership with Google to bring a specialized version of Gemini in to "act as the foundation" of Apple Foundation Models, everyone seems to have decided what that means for themselves. The problem is, we don't really know beyond a few leaks.

Here's some of what I've heard so far:

• Google is leasing a white-label version of Gemini to Apple to replace Apple's models (nah)
• Apple Foundation Models are incorporating Gemini models in parallel (nope)
• Gemini will be added as a layer between the user and Apple's models akin to ChatGPT support (nuh uh)
• Apple will rent Google servers to run the Gemini model it was given (no)

I could be completely wrong, but nothing points to any of these things beyond some random person saying them and everyone just repeating them. From what I can gather from Apple and Google's limited statements and a leak, the situation is a little more clear and Apple-like.

Apple Foundation Models are distilling Google Gemini to improve their base function. Google Gemini won't appear in any way, shape, or form, named, unnamed, white-label, or otherwise on your iPhone, in Apple's servers, or in any interaction between Apple's models and the user.

Now, if a user uses Apple's upcoming API to point a query to Gemini, that's their decision. It is the only way Google's models would interact otherwise.

Your iPhone will run Apple Intelligence and Siri powered by Apple Foundation Models. When a query goes off-device, it'll go to a Private Cloud Compute server that is also running Apple's models.

If that server is owned by Apple, rented from Google, or running Nvidia chips, it will still be Private Cloud Compute. No data will reach any party, and all user data will be thrown out after an output is provided.

If any of this isn't correct, we'll hear about it in some way in the very near future. Legally speaking, Apple can't be sharing user data with third-party models without disclosing that.

We'll see exactly how Apple describes the whole deal on Monday, if they describe it at all.