Apple and Google get AI assistants

Apple and Google hold steadfast in their AI ambitions, and yesterday, they announced their latest developments.

The tech giants are adding virtual assistants to Siri and Gemini tools, paving the way for artificial intelligence to reach millions of consumers.

Apple rolled out iOS 18.2 updates for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that include a ChatGPT integration with Siri. It now consults OpenAI’s GPT-4o model for complex queries (with the user’s consent). It enables people to create AI-generated images and emojis, rewrite emails, and more. The update is part of Apple Intelligence, a suite of AI tools launched in October. It is available on iPhone 15 and newer models.

With these enhancements, Apple aims to drive iPhone sales and strengthen its leadership in consumer AI.

The move is also a huge win for ChatGPT maker OpenAI, which now has Apple and Microsoft as its customers.

Google introduced Project Mariner, its first AI agent capable of navigating and interacting with websites like a human would.

Powered by the Gemini AI model, Mariner can create shopping carts, find flights, and source recipes on the Chrome web browser.

It is currently available to a small group of testers and operates only in an active Chrome tab. Mariner doesn’t handle sensitive tasks like payments, accepting terms and conditions, or maintaining user control.

Google also released a slew of AI agents for several tasks, including Deep Research to answer complex queries and create multi-step research plans and Jules to help developers with coding tasks by integrating directly into GitHub workflows. They could be available to users later in 2025.

These tools may reduce user interaction with websites and publishers, but they could still benefit from page views, TechCrunch says.

Google and Apple’s AI agents could transform how users interact with the web and digital ecosystems.