I’m not even finished with my predictions this year, and already one of them is coming true. In The Year Tech Gets Even Bigger (Predictions 2026, #7), I wrote:
Google in particular will be building a Death Star of AI distribution featuring all the same players from its days of search monopoly: Apple, Samsung, and other Android partners.
And then yesterday, this news:
After a nearly yearlong delay to its efforts to compete in artificial intelligence, Apple said on Monday that it planned to base its A.I. products on technology developed by Google.
The upcoming versions of Apple Foundation Models — the company’s models for its A.I. system, Apple Intelligence — will be based on Google’s Gemini A.I. models and its cloud computing services. Those models will power Apple’s personal assistant, Siri, which is commonly used in iPhones and is expected to be upgraded this year, as well as other A.I. features.
I had planned on posting my final 2026 prediction this morning, but life has other designs for me today. I hope to do so soon. Apple will feature prominently in that final post, because it will focus on the productization of AI, and the core issue of our times: Trust. In the meantime, I wanted to note that Big Tech is wasting no time getting much, much bigger.