Apple is considering ditching its in-house AI models in Siri

Apple is exploring the option of integrating third-party language models (LLMs) into Siri. The iPhone maker is now in advanced discussions with Anthropic and OpenAI after it held talks with Perplexity and Thinking Machines Lab to enhance Siri’s capabilities.

Apple Inc. is reportedly in advanced discussions with Anthropic and OpenAI to potentially overhaul its existing AI strategy by integrating third-party large language models (LLMs) into Siri.

The move is still under consideration but comes during a period of growing concern that the “Apple Foundation Models” are falling short of expectations, especially when compared to the fast-evolving capabilities of generative AI products like Anthropic’s Claude and OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

Internal testing showed that Anthropic’s Claude currently outperforms Apple’s own models.

Apple is considering ditching its in-house AI models in Siri

Apple’s evaluation of third-party models reportedly began after a disruption in management caused Siri responsibilities to shift from the AI chief, John Giannandrea, to the software engineering head, Craig Federighi, and the Vision Pro executive, Mike Rockwell.

Rockwell assumed the Siri engineering role in March and initiated the testing of external LLMs, including Claude, ChatGPT, and Google’s Gemini, to assess whether they could outperform Apple’s in-house systems.

After several testing phases, executives have reportedly found Anthropic’s Claude to be the most promising candidate for Siri’s requirements. This led Adrian Perica, the vice president of corporate development at Apple, to begin negotiations with Anthropic.

Discussions have included requests for custom versions of Claude and ChatGPT to be trained and deployed on Apple’s Private Cloud Compute servers.

Anthropic is reportedly seeking a multibillion-dollar annual licensing fee that would increase significantly over time, and that request has complicated the talks.

The potential switch, though still under review, is especially notable because Apple has long prided itself on end-to-end control over its products, especially in matters of privacy and user experience.

Siri already uses ChatGPT to handle some search-based queries and upcoming image generation features in iOS 26, but the assistant itself remains built on Apple’s models.

OpenAI had previously offered to develop on-device models for Apple, but the company declined at the time.

Until now, the company was expected to launch an upgraded Siri in 2026, powered by its internal models. These plans remain in progress under a parallel initiative known internally as “LLM Siri.”

Shares of Apple rose as much as 3% after Bloomberg broke news of the potential change, which might be a sign that investors view strategic partnerships like this as a necessary step to keep pace with competitors like Google and Samsung.

Reports of morale trouble and internal resistance emerge

While Apple’s discussions with potential partners seem to be heading in the right direction, internal issues appear to be demoralizing workers.

A group of engineers led by Ruoming Pang and reporting to senior AI director Daphne Luong, who work on Apple’s Foundation Models, have reported feeling demoralized by the company’s outside partnerships.

They feel that exploring third-party LLMs places blame on them for Apple’s AI shortcomings. Some have even considered leaving for more lucrative offers from rivals like Meta and OpenAI, who are reportedly offering annual compensation packages ranging from $10M to over $40M.

Employees at Apple also have the rising concern that the company’s reliance on third-party models for Siri may eventually extend to other AI features, which could potentially undermine any long-term investments in Apple’s in-house technology.

Tom Gunter, a senior researcher involved in Apple’s large language model development, left the company last week after eight years.

The MLX team that developed Apple’s core open-source system for machine learning on its chips also threatened to resign. After internal negotiations and counteroffers however, they agreed to stay.

Bloomberg reports that Apple has shelved some internal projects entirely. For instance, Swift Assist, an Apple-developed LLM tool for code generation in Xcode, was canceled about a month ago.

Instead, Apple plans to integrate third-party coding models, including ChatGPT and Claude, into the new version of Xcode expected later this year.

Apple executives are also reportedly divided about how far the company should go in relying on outside AI vendors. Rockwell and Federighi appear increasingly open to short-term third-party integration, but they also believe Apple should retain ownership of AI models in the long run, given their central role in future products like robotics and wearable devices.

Meanwhile, other tech giants are making these third-party partnerships. Samsung, for example, has branded its AI services under the “Galaxy AI” label but uses Google’s Gemini for many of the underlying functions. Amazon uses Anthropic’s Claude to power some Alexa+ features.

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