"Who should Siri carry?"—The real reason Apple chose ChatGPT
The integration of ChatGPT into Siri by Apple, announced at WWDC 2025, marked a significant turning point in the company's AI strategy. However, it is said that there were voices within Apple advocating for Google's Gemini behind the scenes. Of particular note are reports that John Giannandrea, a former Siri head and Google alumnus, initially recommended Google's Gemini over OpenAI. This article explores the strategic and technical perspectives behind this decision, while examining the challenges and future outlook for building Apple's AI ecosystem.
1. The reason for "ChatGPT, not Gemini" as told by the former head of Siri
1-1. John Giannandrea's position and influence
John Giannandrea served as the head of AI and search at Google before moving to Apple. He was known as a key person responsible for the overhaul of Siri. However, it is reported that he was effectively demoted following a leadership reorganization in March 2025. As his influence waned, Apple ultimately decided to integrate with ChatGPT.
1-2. Concerns about ChatGPT and expectations for Gemini
Giannandrea's concerns were regarding the "continuity" and "personal data protection" of ChatGPT. He is said to have sounded an internal alarm, stating, "OpenAI's service is still young, and there are opaque aspects to how user data is handled." In contrast, he reportedly viewed Google's Gemini as more robust from the perspective of enterprise-grade security and data protection.
2. The background behind Apple choosing ChatGPT
2-1. Time pressure as a product strategy
The need to incorporate AI features by WWDC 2025 was an urgent priority for Apple. Long-standing dissatisfaction with Siri's response quality, combined with the rapid expansion of AI-equipped products by Microsoft and Google, drove Apple toward a swift decision.
2-2. ChatGPT's advantage: Brand recognition and user experience
ChatGPT possesses high user awareness and overwhelming perfection in natural language responses. By designing Siri to utilize ChatGPT as a "supplementary role when it cannot answer," Apple succeeded in dramatically raising the quality of the user experience.
3. Future developments: Toward a coexistence strategy with Gemini and Perplexity
3-1. Hybridization of Siri and multiple LLMs
Apple has already announced plans to integrate Google's Gemini into Siri in the future. This is also an expression of a risk-diversification strategy of "not relying on a single model."
3-2. Discussions with Perplexity: Redefining the search engine
According to Bloomberg, Apple is also considering a partnership with the emerging AI search engine "Perplexity." They are looking into its introduction as a search provider for Safari and its use as an alternative to ChatGPT. Perplexity is a model that seeks to fuse real-time search with AI answers, and it is considered highly compatible with Apple's UX philosophy.
4. The meaning of "choosing an AI partner" for Apple
Although Apple is developing its own large language models (LLMs), at this stage, it is forced to collaborate with external partners like ChatGPT and Gemini. This is a realistic choice amidst the dilemma of "fully in-house AI" versus "integration with externally optimized models."
Moving forward, an "AI layer strategy" that avoids exclusive relationships with specific AIs and flexibly switches between multiple models according to user needs will likely be the key.
Apple's adoption of ChatGPT is a reconstruction of the "AI experience as a brand" that goes beyond mere technology selection. The internal disagreements that occurred during that process, and the emergence of other options like Gemini and Perplexity, clearly tell the story of how Apple is attempting to seize the initiative in the AI era.
Whether Apple will accelerate the development of its own AI while adopting an open and flexible integration strategy, or whether it will refine its AI experience by placing ChatGPT at the core, the industry's attention will undoubtedly be focused on developments from late 2025 through 2026.
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