For years, Apple and Google have had a will-they-won’t-they type of relationship, as far as which AI company Apple would pick to underpin its Siri virtual assistant and give it new AI-fueled personalization and agentic capabilities. Apple has spent the last year or two playing the field, reportedly considering working with OpenAI or Anthropic to support the new Siri. But in a multiyear partnership announcement worthy of a The Bachelor-style finale, Apple announced that it would live happily ever after with Google — that the company’s Gemini AI models will underpin a more personalized version of Apple’s Siri, coming sometime in 2026.

“After careful evaluation, Apple determined that Google’s Al technology provides the most capable foundation for Apple Foundation Models and is excited about the innovative new experiences it will unlock for Apple users,” Google and Apple wrote in a joint statement.

The deal allows Apple to use both Gemini AI and Google’s cloud technology to power its future frontier models and Apple Intelligence features, the companies said, adding that Apple Intelligence “will continue to run on Apple devices and Private Cloud Compute, while maintaining Apple’s industry-leading privacy standards.”

The latter point was highlighted by analysts at Morningstar, who wrote in a note on Monday that the agreement will help Apple’s reputation for security and privacy “remain intact, as it will use Gemini instances on its own servers in its own data centers via its Private Cloud Compute offering for AI processing.” The analysts added that they “expect users will be able to opt in to sharing prompts with Gemini directly, as well.”

But what does this deal actually mean for both companies? It’s not clear yet exactly how the exchange of technology will work.