Apple plans to develop a search feature akin to ChatGPT, shifting its focus beyond Siri.
Apple is taking a significant step forward in its AI development with the formation of a dedicated team, known as the Answers, Knowledge and Information (AKI) team. The goal of this team is to build an in-house conversational AI "answer engine" that will power upgraded search experiences across various Apple services, including Siri, Spotlight, and Safari.
The AKI team, led by former Siri executives, aims to reduce Apple's reliance on external search partners, deliver context-aware conversational answers, and emphasize privacy and device integration. The team is currently in the early stages of development, with no public launch date announced as of yet.
In comparison to tech giants like Google and Microsoft, Apple's in-house AI solution is expected to focus on tight hardware/software integration and privacy controls. However, it starts from a weaker web-search infrastructure, which means it may initially be more limited and take longer to match the breadth and retrieval capabilities of its competitors.
Google, for instance, offers integrated conversational search features across Search and Chrome, while Microsoft has integrated OpenAI models into Bing and Edge. Both companies have the advantage of mature, web-scale search indexes and years of product integration in their respective search engines.
As Apple continues to develop its AI technology, it will be crucial for the tech giant to pay close attention to the competition and pick up pace in AI development. CEO Tim Cook has hinted at this need in a recent all-hands meeting.
Meanwhile, the era of legacy tools like extensions is coming to an end, with upstart browsers like Dia and Perplexity's Comet showing that skills and custom agents are taking over. Co-founder and chief of Perplexity, Aravind Srinivas, stated in a recent interview that browsers are more suitable for AI than AI chatbots and apps due to transparency, visibility, and control.
In its current state, Siri opens a prompt box asking whether the question can be offloaded to ChatGPT when it requires internet search or pulling knowledge from an information bank. The expected release date for the overhauled Siri is late 2026.
Spotlight has received a significant functional upgrade in macOS Tahoe, and Apple plans to integrate the search functionality within Spotlight and Safari. The new search framework is expected to be capable of crawling the web to respond to general-knowledge questions.
It's speculated that Apple may acquire a hot AI lab like Perplexity or Anthropic to take a more holistic approach with AI, rather than just focusing on building the next great AI chatbot. However, critical unknowns remain, such as whether Apple will build or license large language models and web-indexing infrastructure comparable to Google/Bing, how Apple will handle live web citations and source transparency, and what privacy tradeoffs it will accept.
In the meantime, Apple has integrated ChatGPT with Siri and the Apple Intelligence stack, and Google's Gemini works better on iPhones than Siri. Google has introduced AI Mode in Search and deeply integrated it across its Workspace ecosystem, changing how AI can influence web browsing and workflows. Microsoft has recently introduced Copilot Mode in Edge, marking a bold and more practical new direction for web browsers.
The universal search box in the AI-focused browser Dia dynamically switches between "chat" and "Google" mode as you type your search keywords. Apple needs to navigate these challenges and capitalise on these opportunities to stay competitive in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
The AKI team, led by former Siri executives, intends to bolster Apple's technology by developing an in-house conversational AI, aiming to deliver context-aware answers, reduce reliance on external search partners, and prioritize privacy and device integration.
Google, Microsoft, and upstart browsers like Dia, with their integrated search features and AI capabilities, pose significant competition for Apple in the rapidly evolving AI landscape. As Apple continues to develop its technology, it needs to navigate these challenges and capitalize on opportunities to stay competitive.
