Apple and Google strike a massive Gemini AI deal. Elon Musk immediately hits back, calling the union an unreasonable concentration of power.
The battle for artificial intelligence supremacy took a sharp turn Monday as Apple and Google announced a landmark multi-year partnership! And Elon Musk immediately blasted it as a dangerous consolidation of power.
The deal, which integrates Google’s advanced Gemini models into the iPhone ecosystem, marks a rare truce between the two Silicon Valley rivals. Under the agreement, Google’s cloud infrastructure and AI models will serve as the foundation for future ‘Apple Intelligence’ features.
In a joint statement, Apple acknowledged that after extensive evaluation, Google offered the “most capable foundation” to power the next generation of Siri and on-device AI tools.
The market responded with euphoria. Alphabet’s valuation surged past $4 trillion following the announcement. Most investors are betting that the union of Apple’s hardware dominance and Google’s AI prowess will be unstoppable.
However, the celebration was cut short by a furious rebuttal from Elon Musk. The billionaire CEO of Tesla and xAI took to X to warn regulators and the public about the implications of the alliance.
Musk wrote,
“This seems like an unreasonable concentration of power for Google, given that they also have Android and Chrome.”
Musk’s argument highlights a growing fear among antitrust advocates, as Google already controls the world’s most popular mobile operating system (Android), the dominant web browser (Chrome), and the leading search engine.
By securing a foothold in Apple’s iOS, the only major rival to Android, Musk argues Google is effectively cornering the global mobile market.
The criticism is not without self-interest. Musk’s own AI company, xAI, is aggressively trying to compete with its Grok model. This partnership potentially locks Musk out of the lucrative iPhone ecosystem, narrowing the lane for competitors to challenge the status quo.
Musk has previously engaged in legal battles against OpenAI and Apple, accusing them of anti-competitive behavior, and this latest deal appears to have reignited his crusade against what he views as a ‘closed AI cartel.’
Is this “Apple-Google complex” the new reality for the tech sector? While Wall Street cheers the synergy, Musk’s warning sets the stage for a fierce regulatory and ideological battle over who holds the keys to the future of artificial intelligence.
