If Google helps Apple beat Google, does everyone lose?

Call me cynical, but from time to time, I hear about a “leak” that’s so positive I wonder if it’s actually a press release in disguise. In August, for instance, the transcript of an internal Apple meeting escaped into the wild and revealed that the company, get this, had amazing products ready to launch. And last week it emerged, no doubt to Apple’s consternation, that its upcoming partnership with Google will result in Siri getting a raft of new features without having to make any compromises whatsoever in terms of privacy and the user interface.

Boy, I really hope somebody got fired for that blunder!

Ultimately, news that Apple’s makeover of its misfiring Siri voice assistant will be powered by Google Gemini rather than in-house technology is a black eye for Cupertino, which has all along said that it will innovate, not spend, its way to AI relevance. Simply buying an established model was always an option for cash-rich Apple, but it preferred to make its…