Apple didn’t just announce its new AI partner in Google and Gemini models this week, it dealt a body blow to OpenAI and Sam Altman. When Apple said its next-gen Foundation Models will be based on Google’s Gemini and cloud tech, powering future Apple Intelligence features, and the long-promised, personality-filled Siri upgrade due later in 2026, it must’ve given Sam Altman some serious pause.
Sam Altman’s fear about an ascendant Google, where Gemini starts to match and even outperform ChatGPT models, seems to be coming true faster than anyone would’ve thought. That Apple’s ecosystem would be the key battleground for this fight between OpenAI and Google must’ve been on very few bingo cards for 2026, if any.
Because since WWDC 2024, ChatGPT has been Apple’s sanctioned external GenAI brain – where Siri could hand off tougher questions to OpenAI, but only after asking you first. Hence, the Apple-Google announcement changes that exclusive equation for Sam Altman and ChatGPT.
Also read: Apple turns to Google Gemini to fix Siri’s long-standing AI problems: Here’s why
Make no mistake, Apple isn’t merely “also supporting” Gemini, it’s putting Gemini under the floorboards. In the joint language of the two companies, it leaves no doubt whatsoever that Apple’s next-gen foundation models are built on Google’s Gemini plus cloud infrastructure.
For OpenAI, the sting is painful. It isn’t just Sam Altman’s pride that took a hit, but also ChatGPT’s future distribution – the boring but crucial part of tech that decides who wins after the demos stop dazzling. On that front, Siri sits on a huge scale across the globe. Apple says it now has more than two billion active devices, which means the assistant you open by accident is the assistant you end up trusting in the future.
In hindsight, Google understood this long ago, of course, which is why the Gemini 3 launch in November 2025 felt less like a model release and more like an invasion plan – Gemini everywhere, immediately, across consumer apps and enterprise pipes.
We can now guess that Sam Altman, by most accounts, saw this Google Gemini wave coming. In December, reports described an internal “code red” at OpenAI, where he asked everyone to pause everything else, and devote energies towards making ChatGPT faster, sturdier, more personal, and ship like your lunch depends on it.
OpenAI even answered with a sprint, as the GPT-5.2 launch was framed as part of that “code red” push to counter Gemini 3. But Apple’s move is a reminder that cutting edge innovation can still be insufficient. You can build the best brain in the room but still sit in the dark if someone else controls the light switch.
Just to be clear, Apple isn’t exiling ChatGPT. The earlier integration remains, largely as an opt-in escalation path for complex requests – in short, useful but no longer central. The centre of gravity shifts to Gemini, and gravity is what creates habits. If Siri becomes meaningfully better with Gemini, most people won’t care which model is inside. They’ll just thank the heavens that Siri finally works – which would be a huge achievement for frustrated iPhone users, believe me.
For Sam Altman, the headache is that this isn’t a one-off product skirmish. It’s a lesson in how AI is being sold in 2026 – not so much as a standalone app you choose, but as a default upgrade to familiar digital habits.
The Apple-Gemini deal is the year’s first clean, sharp attack on OpenAI’s early GenAI lead it has enjoyed for over two years. But the ChatGPT juggernaut most definitely seems to be slowing down, proof that the AI race is widening from model quality to ecosystem engagement. And if 2024-2025 was about who has the best chatbot, it looks like 2026 will be about who gets to be the chatbot you never bothered to download. In which case, I hope Sam Altman has his aspirin handy.
Also read: OpenAI vs Google: Why Sam Altman fears ChatGPT might be losing the AI race
