Apple Explores AI-Powered Search for Safari, Challenging Google’s Dominance

Apple investigates Siri search-enabled AI versions for Safari, with a focus on OpenAI, Perplexity and Anthropic to battle Google superiority.

Apple is delving into AI powered search engines for its Safari browser, after a decline in search activity from AI tools. Eddy Cue, Senior Vice President of services at Apple spoke about the consultations with OpenAI, Perplexity and Anthropic on how to integrate their AI’s into Safari. This attempt is to offer alternative search engines to users other than Google, who has been the default search engine of Safari for the years.

Cue’s testimony in the U.S. Justice Department indicated that Safari searches have recently dropped for the first time since 22 years ago and this is blamed for the popularity of AI tools. He thinks that AI-driven search engines such as offerings from OpenAI and Anthropic’s Claude could replace the conventional search engines such as Google Chrome in years to come. Apple plans to integrate these AI features into Safari, but it won’t be the default search engine.

Currently, Apple makes profit about $20 billion each year from Google in return for allowing it to be the default search engine in Safari. As AI becomes an increasingly integral part of how users experience online, Apple is looking at AI search tools from a variety of suppliers, including OpenAI and Perplexity, in order to offer more options to search. Apple has already incorporated ChatGPT into Siri and will subsequently install Gmail’s AI tool, Gemini, later in the year.

Cue’s words have created a buzz, and for this the parent company of Google (Alphabet) lost $160 billion in the market after the announcement.