AI Industry

Apple surrenders to Google on AI — Microsoft puts Copilot behind a paywall

Apple partnering with Google Gemini for Siri. Microsoft ending free Copilot in Office apps.

January 5, 2026 4 min read

Two moves in the first week of January: Apple is partnering with Google to power Siri with Gemini. Microsoft is putting Copilot behind a paid license starting April 15. One company can't build AI. The other won't give it away.

Apple's white flag

Apple Intelligence's 2025 was a disaster. Siri upgrade delayed indefinitely. AI chief retired. Now: Gemini as foundational model. Multi-year deal, reportedly ~$1B/year. The world's most control-obsessed company outsourcing its most important technology.

Microsoft's monetisation

Free Copilot in Office apps ending April 15. Requires paid M365 Copilot license (~€30/user/month). 500-person company: €180K/year new AI costs. The "AI tax" playbook from August — different mechanism, same outcome.

What it means

  1. Audit AI dependencies. Which model are you building on?
  2. Budget for AI as line item. Free AI era is ending.
  3. Don't assume vendor stability. Build for portability.
  4. "Build vs buy" is settled. Unless you're OpenAI/Google/Anthropic — you're buying.