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Apple Taps Google AI to Transform Siri in Major Upgrade

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In a surprising turn of events that signals a shift in the tech industry’s AI landscape, Apple has announced a multi-year partnership with rival Google to power its next-generation Siri voice assistant using Google’s powerful Gemini artificial intelligence models.

The deal — confirmed by both companies in a joint statement this week — means Apple will use Google’s Gemini models and cloud infrastructure as the foundation for the future of Apple Intelligence, including a more personalised and capable version of Siri expected later in 2026.

Why This Matters

Siri, Apple’s built-in digital assistant, has long lagged behind competitors such as Google Assistant and Amazon’s Alexa in handling complex, conversational tasks. The integration of Gemini represents Apple’s most significant AI investment yet and is intended to finally bring Siri up to par with the latest generative AI capabilities.

Apple said it chose Google after a “careful evaluation” of several AI technologies, concluding that Gemini currently offers the most capable foundation for its needs. While Apple previously engaged with OpenAI’s ChatGPT and explored other models, Google’s solution emerged as its primary choice.

What’s Next for Siri

The upgraded Siri — which could debut with iOS 26.4 as soon as this spring — is expected to bring a range of new capabilities, including:

  • Enhanced factual world knowledge and conversational responses
  • Improved personalization based on user context
  • Deeper integration with apps and on-screen actions
  • Expanded support for everyday tasks such as scheduling, travel planning and content creation

This marks a departure from Siri’s traditional focus on basic voice commands, positioning it instead as a more proactive and intelligent assistant.

Balancing Power and Privacy

Despite outsourcing the core AI foundation to Google, Apple emphasises that user privacy remains a priority. The company says that most AI functions will continue to run on-device or through its Private Cloud Compute system, ensuring user data isn’t freely shared with Google’s infrastructure.

Industry Impact

The partnership boosts Google’s presence across Apple’s massive global device ecosystem — more than two billion active devices — and highlights how even industry giants are willing to collaborate in the rapidly evolving AI race.

However, the move also raises questions about the balance of power in AI, given the deepening ties between two competitors traditionally known for rivalry. Experts say it could reshape future cooperation and competition — especially with other AI leaders like OpenAI.

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EuroMatch NPFL: Kano Pillars, Sporting Lagos Share Points in Kano

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Kano Pillars and Sporting Lagos played out a 1-1 draw in an entertaining EuroMatch Nigeria Premier Football League Matchday 7 encounter in Kano, with both sides settling for a point after a closely contested battle.

Sports247 reports that the result means the Mai Su Gida have now followed up their previous goalless draw against Enyimba with another stalemate, while Sporting Lagos also recorded their second consecutive draw after being held to a barren 0-0 draw by Ikorodu City in the Lagos Derby.

Kano Pillars started the encounter with the intention of making home advantage count, but Sporting Lagos remained organised and disciplined as both teams searched for an opening.

The breakthrough finally arrived deep into first-half stoppage time when Valentine Ugwu put Sporting Lagos ahead in the 45+2nd minute, giving the visitors a valuable lead heading into the interval.

Kano Pillars responded strongly after the restart and quickly found a way back into the contest.

The hosts were rewarded in the 48th minute when Abdullahi Musa drew Kano Pillars level, finishing off a move created by veteran midfielder Rabiu Ali, whose assist once again underlined his influence in the Pillars midfield.

With the score level at 1-1, both sides pushed for a decisive second goal, but neither could find the breakthrough during the remainder of the encounter.

Kano Pillars will take encouragement from their ability to recover from going behind, while Sporting Lagos will also be satisfied with securing a point away from home after surrendering their lead.

For the Mai Su Gida, the draw represents another opportunity gained but also another two points dropped from a winning position, as they continue their campaign in search of consistency.

Sporting Lagos, meanwhile, remain unbeaten across their recent fixtures but will be looking to convert their promising performances into maximum points as the season progresses.

The 1-1 result leaves both teams with plenty to build on, particularly in attack, as they prepare for their next assignments in the EuroMatch NPFL.

With the league campaign continuing to gather momentum, Kano Pillars and Sporting Lagos will now turn their attention to their upcoming fixtures, hoping to turn future draws into victories.

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Federal judge calls Flock ‘indiscriminate mass surveillance’

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A federal judge ruled this week that a Tulsa, Oklahoma sheriff’s deputy violated a woman’s Fourth Amendment rights when using Flock Safety to search for her license plate without a warrant. 

As reported by 404 Media, this ruling does not create a binding precedent, but it is one of the first times that a federal judge has ruled that a Flock search is unconstitutional.

In this case, Judge Sara Hill said the deputy should have obtained a warrant before searching the Flock database for the woman’s license plate, as he had “no apparent reason” for the search “other than the fact that [the woman’s vehicle] had a California license plate.”

The deputy then used the woman’s travel history in Flock as part of the justification for searching her car, where he allegedly discovered 91 pounds of meth. But Judge Hill wrote that all evidence obtained after the Flock search “must be suppressed as the fruit of a poisonous tree.”

Judge Hill also took broader aim at warrantless searches of the Flock database, writing that tracking people’s location — even when they’re in public places — becomes “constitutionally problematic when law enforcement can indiscriminately and passively catalog your whereabouts over an extended period of time and then use that information for any purpose whenever convenient.”

“This is a type of indiscriminate mass surveillance,” Hill wrote. “It is not targeted on a single individual, as in [Carpenter v. United States, a Supreme Court case focused on how government agencies access location data from cell phones]. It is a tool that collects information about all vehicles that pass by any network-connected camera at all times, and it serves up the information to law enforcement on demand.”

Hill joins a growing chorus of Flock critics from across the political spectrum. Numerous local and state governments, including Florida and Texas, have said they will stop using the technology. And on Friday, Senator Bernie Sanders — a Democrat from Vermont — introduced the Block Flock Act, which would bar federal agencies from using automated license plate readers such as Flock.

Flock CEO Garretty Langley — who we’ll be interviewing on-stage at TechCrunch Disrupt — has called for a “compromise” between privacy and safety and offered an apology to women who have been stalked by law enforcement officers using the Flock system. And with all those cancellations, Flock has also reportedly offered voluntary employee buyouts as a way to shrink its workforce.

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