Alphabet declined to address questions about Google’s AI partnership with Apple during its fourth-quarter earnings call, leaving investors in the dark. When an analyst asked how the company was approaching strategic AI collaborations—specifically the recently announced deal to power Apple’s Siri with Google’s Gemini AI—Alphabet’s leadership offered no response, effectively ignoring the inquiry. This silence speaks volumes. It suggests Alphabet is not yet prepared to disclose how the partnership may affect its core business, which is increasingly centered on artificial intelligence. The Google-Apple relationship has long been mutually beneficial, most notably through a longstanding search agreement in which Google paid Apple around $20 billion annually to remain the default search engine on iPhones. That arrangement gave Google access to Apple’s vast ecosystem—over 2.5 billion active devices worldwide—while Apple secured a reliable revenue stream. The new AI deal, however, appears less straightforward in its financial upside for Google. While reports suggest Apple may be paying roughly $1 billion per year for the integration, the benefits to Google are not immediately clear. Unlike in traditional search, where users see paid ads at the top of results, AI-powered responses in Google’s AI Mode are still experimental. Ads in this mode are currently placed below or embedded within chat-style answers, a format that has yet to prove its effectiveness in driving revenue. Google first announced plans to introduce ads into AI Mode in May, but the rollout remains limited. The company is also testing new features like “Shop with AI Mode,” which aims to guide users through product searches and directly into purchases from within the AI interface—potentially creating a new ad-supported shopping funnel. Meanwhile, Google’s AI rival Anthropic is challenging the ad-based model embraced by OpenAI and Google, with a high-profile Super Bowl ad that questions the ethics and sustainability of monetizing AI through advertising. The long-term viability of this approach remains uncertain. Despite the strategic importance of the Apple deal, it received minimal attention during Alphabet’s earnings presentation. CEO Sundar Pichai mentioned only that Apple had selected Google as its “preferred cloud provider” and would collaborate on developing “the next generation of Apple foundation models based on Gemini technology.” Google’s Chief Business Officer, Philipp Schindler, repeated the same phrasing when discussing Apple, offering no additional insight into the partnership’s scope or financial terms.