By Roger Fingas

Summary

• Apple is allegedly talking to OpenAI and Anthropic about inserting an outside AI model into Siri.
• The company may need this to keep up in the AI race, since it squandered the early lead it gained by launching Siri in 2011.
• A deal may be contingent on Apple being less gunshy about spending big on outside partnerships.

It's no secret at this point that Apple has been struggling to catch up in generative AI. Over nine months since the launch of the iPhone 16, Apple has yet to deliver on some of the main promises for Apple Intelligence, particularly contextual awareness and deep in-app functions for Siri. Instead the company has made a few quasi-apologies, and altered its marketing, even pulling an ad starring The Last of Us actor Bella Ramsey.

The latest rumor, via Bloomberg, is that Apple is talking to OpenAI and Anthropic about making their AI models the basis of its Siri revamp. Anthropic's tech is supposedly the best fit with Siri so far, and the company may even be formulating preliminary terms at a cost of billions of dollars per year. That sounds extreme, given how much Apple likes to keep in-house -- but it may be unavoidable, knowing what I do about Apple's track record and current state.