We know how the next-generation Siri is supposed to work. Apple showed it off in 2024, made commercials about it, and generally promised that AI would change the way we used our gadgets forever. And then, well, none of that came to pass. So Apple made a deal: It tapped Google’s Gemini technology to help it turn Siri into the assistant we were promised. This deal’s a big one, and it could change the landscape of the AI race going forward.
Siri is a Gemini
On The Vergecast: Google and Apple made an AI deal, the metaverse is dying, and what’s happening on Grok.
On The Vergecast: Google and Apple made an AI deal, the metaverse is dying, and what’s happening on Grok.
is editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired.
On this episode of The Vergecast, David and Nilay talk about the news that publishers are suing Google en masse on the heels of its adtech antitrust trial, including The Verge’s parent company, Vox Media. Then they talk through what we know about the Siri-Gemini deal, and why some of the details we don’t yet know will end up being hugely important. Either way, though, this all raises the question of whether Apple lost the AI wars in a way it will come to regret, or it simply realized the battle wasn’t worth fighting. There’s a Cook Doctrine lesson in here somewhere.
After that, the hosts turn to some other big news in tech. First, there’s the horror show that is Grok and X, in which everyone is to blame and no one seems willing to do anything about it. After that, we discuss Meta’s latest layoffs in the Reality Labs division and why it feels like this might be the end of the metaverse. For nearly a decade, Mark Zuckerberg and his team made every effort to corner the market on what Meta was convinced was the next big thing. Then they lost interest. And now it might be over.
Finally, in the lightning round, it’s time for another round of Brendan Carr is a Dummy, the latest on the Paramount / Warner / Netflix battle, the Trump Phone, and the new Digg.
If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started, first in Google news:
- The Atlantic, Penske, and Vox Media have all sued Google for antitrust violations
- US v. Google redux: all the news from the ad tech trial
- Apple picks Google’s Gemini AI for its big Siri upgrade
- What Apple and Google’s Gemini deal means for both companies
- Google’s Gemini AI will use what it knows about you from Gmail, Search, and YouTube
- Why Google Gemini looks poised to win the AI race over OpenAI
And in Grok news:
And in metaverse news:
- Meta plans to lay off hundreds of metaverse employees this week
- Meta confirms Reality Labs layoffs and shifts to invest more in wearables
- Meta is closing down three VR studios as part of its metaverse cuts
- From 2023: FTC won’t appeal court decision permitting Meta to buy Within
- From 2021: Is VR the next frontier in fitness?
And in the lightning round:
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