Apple may have signed a deal to use Google's Gemini AI model to boost Siri, but Claude was ahead of the game, already inside Apple Park's walls, and have taken its place if not for Anthropic's astronomical fee demands.

Apple is aware that its internal AI models aren't as good as those built by other companies. The news of a deal to integrate Gemini into Siri confirms as much, but Apple continues to use models from OpenAI and Anthropic elsewhere.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman notes that the deal with Google was only signed recently, and Apple will have to use models from other companies in countries like China. Apple already tweaks its products to work within China's laws, and using a Chinese AI model for Siri will likely be part of that.

But the use of non-Google AI extends beyond Siri. Gurman notes that Apple has custom versions of Anthropic's Claude running on its own servers, and it was also in contention to become the backbone for Siri.

Anthropic's antics

Notably, Gurman believes that Apple held talks about Claude powering the Siri upgrades now in the hands of Gemini. But Anthropic reportedly wanted "several billion dollars a year" before a deal could be signed.

While it's unconfirmed how much Apple is paying Google for its Gemini AI, we can assume it to be much less than the figures Anthropic quoted. An unconfirmed Financial Times report had suggested Google's deal to be worth around around $1 billion per year.

That is in stark comparison to the $20 billion Google is known to pay Apple for primary search engine status.

Further, Gurman believes that Anthropic's deal would have doubled on an annual basis for the next three years. With that in mind, the Google deal is likely a steal, with the fee lost in incoming payments from the search giant.

Beyond Google and Anthropic, Apple already has a relationship with OpenAI, with the company's ChatGPT being used to power existing Apple Intelligence features. Apple has already confirmed that it will allow users to select a different AI model in the future.

It's clear that Apple is yet to put all of its eggs in one AI basket, and they probably won't. But the likely end-game here is that Apple will spin up its in-house AI models to eventually take over fully, disengaging from using Google, Anthropic, and others, AI tech.

Given Apple's record R&D spend towards the end of 2025, that might happen sooner rather than later.