Apple will rely on Google to help finish its efforts to smarten up its virtual assistant Siri and bring other artificial intelligence features to the iPhone as the trendsetting company plays catch up in technology's latest craze.
The deal allowing Apple to tap into Google's AI technology was disclosed Monday in a joint statement from the Silicon Valley powerhouses. The partnership will draw upon Google's Gemini technology to customize a suite of AI features dubbed “Apple Intelligence” on the iPhone and other products.
After Google and others took the early lead in the AI race, Apple promised to plant its first big stake in the field with an array of new features that were supposed to be coming to the iPhone in 2024 as part of a ballyhooed software upgrade.
But many of Apple's AI features remain in the development phase, while Google and Samsung have been rolling out more of the technology on their own devices. One of the most glaring AI omissions on the iPhone has been a promised overhaul of Siri that was supposed to transform the often-confused assistant into a more conversational and versatile multitasker.
Google even subtly mocked the iPhone’s AI shortcomings in ads promoting the release of its latest Pixel phone last summer.
Apple's AI missteps prompted the Cupertino, California, company to acknowledge last year that its Siri upgrade wouldn't happen until some point during 2026.
Getting Apple to endorse its AI implicitly represents a coup for Google, which has been steadily releasing more features built on its Gemini technology in its search engine and Gmail. The progress has intensified Google's competition with OpenAI and its ChatGPT chatbot, which already has a deal with Apple that makes it an option on the iPhone.
Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives hailed the Apple deal as a “major validation moment for Google,” in a Monday research note.
Google's AI inroads have helped its corporate parent, Alphabet Inc., become slightly more valuable than Apple in the assessment of investors. Alphabet marked a milestone Monday when it surpassed a market value of $4 trillion for the first time.
Even so, Alphabet's market value remained about $150 billion above Apple, which for years ranked as the world's most valuable company before the rise of AI changed the stakes.
Three other companies have joined the $4 trillion club in the past year, with AI chipmaker Nvidia becoming the first last July. Apple and Microsoft also broke the barrier last year, although the market values of those two longtime rivals are now below $4 trillion.
Nvidia’s market value briefly topped $5 trillion in late October, before backtracking amid recurring worries that the hundreds of billions of dollars pouring into AI technology may be creating an investment bubble that will eventually burst. With its chipsets designed for AI still in high demand, Nvidia remains atop the heap with a $4.5 trillion market value.
Alphabet's stock price has been on a tear since early September when Google dodged the U.S. government’s attempt to break up its internet empire following a ruling last year that branded its ubiquitous search engine an illegal monopoly.
In an effort to prevent further abuses, a federal judge overseeing the case ordered a shake-up that investors widely interpreted as a relative slap on the wrist, resulting in a 57% increase in Alphabet’s stock price since then that has created an additional $1.4 trillion in shareholder wealth.
The ruling also left the door open for a long-running alliance in search between Google and Apple. Google pays Apple more than$20 billion annually to be the preferred search engine on the iPhone and other Apple products — an arrangement that is still allowed with a few modifications under the judge's decision in the search case.
FILE - A woman walks by a giant screen with a logo at an event at the Paris Google Lab on the sidelines of the AI Action Summit in Paris, on Feb. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus,File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — A bipartisan U.S. congressional delegation is headed to Copenhagen later this week in an attempt to show unity between the United States and Denmark as U.S. President Donald Trump continues to threaten to seize Greenland, a semiautonomous territory of the NATO ally.
Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., is leading the trip of at least nine members of Congress, including Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. The group will be in Copenhagen on Friday and Saturday and will meet with high-level Danish and Greenlandic government officials and business leaders.
In an interview with the Associated Press on Monday, Coons said the delegation wants to send a message that “we understand the value of the partnership we have long had with them, and in no way seek to interfere in their internal discussions about the status of Greenland.”
Coons stressed that the United States and Denmark have long been allies, noting that the northern European nation came to the U.S.'s defense in the immediate aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks and have for years worked in tandem on other priorities.
“As long as we have been constructive and respectful allies, the Danes have been open arms with us on security and investment and the region,” Coons said, adding: “I think the only thing that has changed is the recent statements by the president and the extent to which it seems to have gone from casual to serious, and I just think it’s important for us to be heard as strongly supporting NATO and our alliance.”
The delegation considered traveling to Greenland on the trip, but ultimately could not due to logistical issues, according to a person familiar with the trip planning who was granted anonymity to discuss earlier private discussions.
Tensions have grown between Washington, Denmark and Greenland this month as Trump and his administration push the issue and the White House considers a range of options, including military force, to acquire the vast Arctic island. Trump reiterated his argument that the U.S. needs to “take Greenland,” otherwise Russia or China would, in comments aboard Air Force One on Sunday.
He said he’d rather “make a deal” for the territory, “but one way or the other, we’re going to have Greenland.” Danish and Greenlandic envoys are expected in Washington this week for talks with Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
China responded in kind on Monday, saying the United States should not use other countries as a “pretext” to pursue its interests in Greenland and said that China’s activities in the Arctic comply with international law.
Asked in Beijing Monday about U.S. statements that it is necessary for Washington to take over Greenland to prevent China and Russia from taking control, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning replied that “China’s activities in the Arctic are aimed at promoting peace, stability, and sustainable development in the region and are in accordance with international law.” She didn’t elaborate on those activities.
“The rights and freedoms of all countries to conduct activities in the Arctic in accordance with the law should be fully respected,” Mao said, without mentioning Greenland directly. “The U.S. should not pursue its own interests by using other countries as a pretext.”
She said that “the Arctic concerns the overall interests of the international community.”
Coons said in addition to reinforcing the U.S.’s relationship with Denmark, he wants the trip to emphasize that “there is no imminent threat to Greenland from the Chinese and the Russians.”
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an American takeover of Greenland would mark the end of NATO. On Friday, Greenland Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen and the leaders of the four other parties in the territory's parliament issued a joint statement reiterating that Greenland's future must be decided by its people and emphasizing their “wish that the United States’ contempt for our country ends.”
Greenland’s leader also issued another statement on Monday, saying Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark and part of NATO through the Realm.
“This means that our security and defense belong within NATO. This is a fundamental and firm line,” he said.
“We are a democratic society that makes our own decisions. And our actions are based on international law and the rule of law.”
China in 2018 declared itself a “near-Arctic state” in an effort to gain more influence in the region. Beijing has also announced plans to build a “Polar Silk Road” as part of its global Belt and Road Initiative, which has created economic links with countries around the world.
FILE - Danish military forces participate in an exercise with hundreds of troops from several European NATO members in Kangerlussuaq, Greenland, Sept. 17, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)
FILE - A boat rides though a frozen sea inlet outside of Nuuk, Greenland, on March 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File)
