Walled-Off’ AI: Apple’s $1B Deal to Run Gemini on Its Own Servers

The most critical part of Apple’s $1 billion-a-year deal with Google is its “walled-off” architecture. Apple will use Google’s 1.2 trillion parameter Gemini AI for Siri, but it will run on Apple’s Private Cloud Compute servers, not Google’s.

This “interim solution” is part of Apple’s “Glenwood” project to fix Siri. Google’s “ultrapowerful” AI won a “bake-off” against OpenAI and Anthropic, and it will now handle all complex “summariser” and “planner” functions for the new “Linwood” assistant.

This hybrid system will use Apple’s 150-billion parameter models for simple tasks and Google’s AI for complex ones. It’s a reluctant admission of Apple’s AI lag.

The “walled-off” architecture is non-negotiable. It ensures Google gets its $1B fee but no access to Apple’s user data, a critical component of the deal.

While Apple pushes its teams to build a 1T+ replacement, this “temporary” fix could last for years, a testament to Google’s AI lead.