Craig Federighi says Apple hopes to add Google Gemini and other AI models to iOS 18

As part of its WWDC announcements today, Apple revealed a partnership with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT natively to iOS 18. In a follow-up interview Monday, Apple executives Craig Federighi and John Giannandrea explained Apple’s AI goals – and hinted at a possible deal with Google. Gemini in the future.

Moderated by iJustine, the interview took place at the Steve Jobs Theater this afternoon, featuring a discussion with John Giannandrea, Apple’s senior vice president of machine learning and AI strategy, and Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering.

During the interview, Federighi specifically referenced Apple’s hopes to eventually allow users to choose between different models to use with Apple Intelligence. Although OpenAI’s ChatGPT is the only option at the moment, Federighi suggested that Google Gemini could be a later option:

We think that ultimately people may have a preference for certain models that they want to use, perhaps a model that is ideal for creative writing or one that they prefer for coding. We therefore want to allow users, ultimately, to bring the model of their choice.

So we can expect to make integrations with different models like Google Gemini in the future. I mean, nothing to announce yet, but that’s our direction.

The decision to focus on ChatGPT initially was because Apple wanted to “start with the best,” according to Federighi.

Apple will begin rolling out Apple Intelligence features later this year. The features will be available for free on iPhone 15 Pro and later, as well as all M-series Macs and iPads.