During Wednesday's fourth-quarter earnings call, Alphabet chose not to address a pointed investor inquiry regarding Google's AI collaboration with Apple. When an analyst asked about the tech giant's perspective on AI partnerships—specifically the arrangement to enhance Siri with Google's AI—the question was entirely overlooked. This omission itself is revealing: Alphabet is not yet prepared to discuss how this alliance might influence its core business, which is becoming more centered on artificial intelligence.

The longstanding relationship between Google and Apple has historically been advantageous for both parties. Legal documents from the Department of Justice's case against Google disclosed that the search company paid Apple$20 billion to remain the default search engine on Apple devices. In exchange, Google secured access to Apple's enormous user network; to illustrate the scale, Apple recently reported having 2.5 billion active devices globally.

While the new AI agreement is rumored to involve Apple paying Google approximately $1 billion annually, the direct benefits for Google are less clear compared to the search partnership. In traditional Google Search, users encounter advertiser links prominently at the top of results. However, advertising within AI Mode—a chatbot-style interface that may shape the future of search—remains in an experimental phase. Since last May, Google has been testing ad placements either below or woven into the AI's responses.

Additionally, Google is exploring agentic shopping features, such as Shop with AI Mode, designed to assist consumers with product inquiries and streamline the checkout process directly through the AI interface.

On a related note, Google's AI rival Anthropic is preparing to critique ad-supported AI models with an upcoming Super Bowl advertisement, questioning the approach taken by both OpenAI and Google. The long-term implications of these developments remain uncertain—and for now, they are also being left unaddressed.

Notably, the Apple Siri partnership received minimal attention during Alphabet's earnings discussion. CEO Sundar Pichai simply expressed satisfaction that Google is Apple's "preferred cloud provider" and will assist in building "the next generation of Applefoundation models based on Gemini technology." Philipp Schindler, Google's Chief Business Officer, echoed these exact words when briefly referencing Apple.