Emergency meetings and failed billion-dollar talks reveal the chaos behind Apple's pivot to Google Gemini

Internal crisis meetings, a leader who cried "bullshit" and convinced no one, and billion-dollar negotiations that fell apart: Bloomberg reveals the backstory behind Apple's decision to partner with Google.

When Bloomberg reported last summer that Apple was considering replacing its internal AI models with external providers, the company's leadership reacted within hours. Siri chief Mike Rockwell and AI head John Giannandrea called an emergency meeting with the foundation models team, according to Bloomberg. Rockwell's message: the article was "bullshit."

Nobody seemed convinced. Apple Intelligence was falling behind competitors, and the new Siri was delayed. Over the following months, talent started leaving the company, including team lead Ruoming Pang. Many were recruited by Meta.

Billion-dollar demands and strategic conflicts

Apple was negotiating with Anthropic and OpenAI at the same time. Both options fell through. Anthropic reportedly demanded several billion dollars annually over multiple years. OpenAI presented a different problem: the company was actively poaching Apple engineers and pursuing its own hardware ambitions with former Apple designer Jony Ive.

Google wasn't initially the frontrunner but ultimately won out. The company wasn't seen as a technology leader, and an antitrust lawsuit threatened to derail the Safari search deal. In September 2025, however, a judge ruled the deal could stand. Google also offered terms Apple found acceptable.

Year-long power struggle ends with Giannandrea's departure

Behind the scenes, a power shift had already taken place in early 2025. CEO Tim Cook lost confidence in AI chief Giannandrea, according to Bloomberg. Software chief Craig Federighi effectively took control of Apple's AI direction and decided to rely on external partners.

Giannandrea was sidelined internally for nearly a year before Apple announced his departure in December 2025. He gets to keep his salary and stock until April 2027.

His exit has consequences for several of his projects: An AI-powered Safari browser is partially on hold, and a ChatGPT-like project called "World Knowledge Answers" has been scaled back significantly. Instead, Gemini now replaces the internally developed technologies. Apple refers to Google's models internally simply as "Apple Foundation Models."