Apple eyes OpenAI and Anthropic for Siri revamp, wants their models to run on its own private cloud
Apple is reportedly in talks with OpenAI and Anthropic to potentially power a major update to Siri, according to a Bloomberg report. The company is apparently exploring the use of external large language models (LLMs) to replace or support its own AI efforts.
Reportedly, Apple has asked both OpenAI and Anthropic to train versions of their models that could be tested on Apple’s own cloud infrastructure. This setup would allow the company to keep user data private while leveraging the strengths of more advanced third-party AI systems.
The move is reportedly part of an internal push to reviveApple’s underwhelming progress in AI. In a post on X, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman said, “Apple is considering using AI technology from Anthropic or OpenAI to power Siri, sidelining its own in-house models in a potentially blockbuster move aimed at turning around its AI effort.”
Gurman added that the shift towards external models has had a noticeable impact internally. Tom Gunter, one of Apple’s senior AI engineers, left the company last week. Additionally, the team behind MLX, which is Apple’s open-source AI framework, has allegedly threatened to quit over frustrations with the current direction.
Despite these developments, Apple has yet to make a final decision to completely abandon its in-house models. Gurman noted that the company is still running a project named “LLM Siri,” which could power a redesigned version of Siri in 2025 using its own AI models. However, Gurman says that top executives at Apple reportedly believe that relying on third-party models could be the key to catching up with rivals in the AI race.
Earlier this year, Apple abruptly cancelled plans to build its own in-house coding models, which had been announced as part of Swift Assist at last year’s developer conference. Instead, the company now allows developers to use tools like ChatGPT or Anthropic’s Claude directly through Xcode, its integrated development environment. Apple is also using Claude internally for code generation.
The shift comes as Apple faces increasing pressure to retain top AI talent. According to Gurman, companies like Meta and OpenAI are offering salaries that can more than double what Apple pays, making it harder to attract and keep skilled engineers.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday announced anew AI division called the Meta Superintelligence Labs, which is aimed at developing artificial general intelligence (AGI) – an AI system that can perform most tasks as well as or better than humans can. For this new AI unit, Meta haspoached some of the best AI researchersfrom its rivals like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.
Apple is reportedly working on a long-awaitedrevamp of Siri alongside the launch of iOS 26.4 in 2026. The upgraded virtual assistant is expected to offer more sophisticated capabilities, tapping into on-screen content and user data to execute complex, multi-step commands with greater context-awareness.
