How is Apple Challenging Google with AI Search Options?
The advancement of AI is redefining how digital platforms enable users to discover information.
This evolution is thanks to the rise of conversational AI assistants that can amalgamate data across numerous sources alongside traditional keyword-based search methodologies.
Venture capitalists have poured vast resources into AI ventures aiming to create alternative search technologies that deliver refined and contextually relevant results beyond the capabilities of conventional search engines.
Apple is “actively looking at” the incorporation of AI-enhanced search technologies within its Safari web browser.
Eddy Cue, Senior Vice President of Services at Apple, expressed this during his testimony in the US Justice Department’s case against Alphabet.
He noted that Apple is actively assessing how to integrate these advanced AI search functionalities.
This shift emerges as Apple’s substantial US$20bn annual contract with Google, which maintains Google as the default search option on Apple devices, faces challenges from US regulatory bodies.
Integrating AI into search
Besides legal pressure, change in consumer behaviour is taking place.
Eddy says there has been a decline in the volume of searches performed via Safari, attributing this shift to the increasing adoption of AI-driven search alternatives.
“We will add them to the list — they probably won't be the default,” he says regarding AI search providers, indicating these services still need refinement before potentially replacing traditional search engines.
However, Apple's commitment to AI extends beyond mere evaluation. It has incorporated OpenAI’s ChatGPT into its Siri digital assistant, with plans to incorporate Google's Gemini AI search tool in upcoming updates.
Eddy says that Apple’s looked into a variety of AI partners before partnering with OpenAI.
“Prior to AI, my feeling around this was, none of the others were valid choices,” Eddy says.
“I think today there is much greater potential because there are new entrants attacking the problem in a different way.”
Before selecting ChatGPT for inclusion in Apple Intelligence in iOS 18, Eddy describes a “bake-off” with Google.
He stated that Google had provided terms “that had a lot of things Apple wouldn't agree to and didn't agree to with OpenAI”.
The competition against Google
Eddy predicts that AI search providers might eventually overtake traditional engines like Google.
Reports suggest that Apple has proactively engaged with companies like Perplexity AI to explore potential integration.
He emphasises the need for these AI solutions to refine their search indices — essentially the databases from which search results are derived — to pose real competition.
“The only way you truly have true competition is when you have technology shifts. Technology shifts create these opportunities,” Eddie says.
“AI is a new technology shift and it's creating new opportunities for new entrants.” He also suggests the pace of change could be dramatic: “You may not need an iPhone 10 years from now as crazy as it sounds.”
Despite these forward-looking statements, Eddy maintains that Google should remain the default search engine in Safari for now.
“There's enough money now, enough large players, that I don't see how it doesn't happen,” Eddy says.
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