Siri’s ‘Linwood’ Upgrade: A Hybrid System Powered by Google

Apple’s upcoming “Linwood” upgrade for Siri will be a hybrid system, relying on a $1 billion-a-year deal with Google to power its most advanced features. Google’s 1.2 trillion parameter Gemini model will handle all complex “summariser” and “planner” functions.

This “interim solution” is part of Apple’s “Glenwood” project, a high-stakes effort to fix Siri’s shortcomings. Apple’s in-house 150-billion parameter models will be relegated to simpler tasks.

Google’s “ultrapowerful” AI was chosen after an extensive “bake-off” where it beat models from OpenAI and Anthropic. This is a major win for Google, but a reluctant admission of its AI lag by Apple.

Top Apple executives Craig Federighi and Mike Rockwell are overseeing the project. They are tasked with delivering a competitive assistant, even if it means using a rival’s engine.

The deal was only possible due to Apple’s strict privacy controls. The Gemini model will run on Apple’s “walled-off” Private Cloud Compute servers, completely blocking Google from accessing any user data.