Google could charge Apple users for AI tools in iOS 18

Rumors suggest Google is looking to offer premium generative AI features just as Apple is allegedly planning an AI App Store for iOS 18.

Speculation and rumors about tech giants come in waves, but if you pay close enough attention, patterns and intent can break through the noise. Google has struggled to find new ways to monetize its business as AI tools don't rely on ads, and it may have found a solution with Apple.

Anonymous sources speaking to Financial Times state that Google could offer paid premium features powered by it's generative AI. The move would be the first time Google charged for exclusivity to a core platform feature outside ad-free options.

There's not much to this tidbit of news. It suggests Google could add AI-powered search features to its premium subscription services.

However, the monetization path isn't clear. Google wants its primary search tool to remain free and ad-supported, so it doesn't plan to launch an ad-free search. So, charging for individual tools or including premium features for subscribers could be an option.

There is one opportunity for monetization, and that's through Apple. Rumors suggest Apple is in talks with Google to provide iOS 18 users access to Gemini.

A different but related rumor suggests Apple is working to offer an AI App Store. Customers could go to the App Store to pay for access to premium AI features like Gemini search or other Google-provided AI tools.

All of these rumors may be separate, but they seem to be related to Apple's overall strategy. The company may be working to offer smaller on-device models while outsourcing LLMs to bigger existing companies like Google.

You don't have long to wait and find out. Apple will reveal its AI strategy during WWDC on June 10.

8 Comments

Massiveattack87 102 comments · New User

About 8 months ago

I hope Tim Cook does not present a pay-service for the generative AI powered by Gemini.
It is not what I would call "breakthrough".

A lot of people who are familiar with the generative AI know that Gemini is quite controversal.
Many prefer Perplexity, Chat-GPT, Claude 3 over Gemini (Of course, there are still a lot of divided opinions on that).

I think this will be a massive drop if Apple really plans to launch Gemini for iOS18.

Tim is cooking Apple for sure.

coolfactor 2341 comments · 20 Years

Too early to make any judgement calls, but the thought of Google being "baked into" my Mac gives me the heebie jeebies!

bobolicious 1177 comments · 10 Years

... and so to me one fundamental ask is where is all this AI 'intelligence' (for profit) coming from ...?

This red flag went up with the first post Steve Jobs introduction of Photos where all images were to be scanned, tagged and referenced at a customer's computer time and expense and then remotely updated to other devices (vs the 2' USB cable on a desk) via Apple servers - for most in a foreign jurisdiction...

This all under a guise of improving on iPhoto despite the many complaints and loss of Aperture, iWeb and other elegant synchronized productive software that seemed more about a 'bicycle for the mind' than 'all roads lead to our data servers' sync requirement... Does ANY core 'free' Apple software come without a privacy warning now ?

And then there are the 'Learn from this App' Siri settings - granularly on by default with no global off privacy setting - every new app download requires follow up to turn this off...

Who owns and deserves to be paid for AI...? Lawyers start your engines...?

How many are disclosing their valuable IP via gmail, iCloud or other online publication that may be missing the bigger picture...?

'... but it's free...' will time tell...?

Has the mac changed from a bicycle to a dragnet for the mind...?

mattinoz 2488 comments · 9 Years

Massiveattack87 said:

I hope Tim Cook does not present a pay-service for the generative AI powered by Gemini.
It is not what I would call "breakthrough".

A lot of people who are familiar with the generative AI know that Gemini is quite controversal.
Many prefer Perplexity, Chat-GPT, Claude 3 over Gemini (Of course, there are still a lot of divided opinions on that).

I think this will be a massive drop if Apple really plans to launch Gemini for iOS18.

Tim is cooking Apple for sure.

Apple could create a standardised interface for similar AI systems. On the App side, developers wouldn't need to know which one the user has an account for; they wouldn't need to pick a "winner" to be associated with and possibly force the user into another account to leverage the function.

Users can pick a preferred system if they have one. Developers could nominate a preferred but still allow user choice*. AI providers can still develop in earnest, knowing that if they make a break from the pack with improvements, they might only need one system setting to gain a whole stack of paying customers.

In this mix, Apple could offer their own AI trained purely on licensed sources as a baseline works out-of-the-box experience. This could be an on-device system and hand-wave any shortcomings against other options by up-selling privacy or convenience aspects of being on-device and not dependent on internet connections.

*given user choice is a big thing and Apple have had reasons to build out systems to allow more user choice into the OS so why not launch this system on the back of that. Let them slide the web-rendering engine or photo library toogles into the system under the radar at the same time.