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Title: Apple is considering adding AI search engines to Safari

Date: Wed, 07 May 2025 18:05:02 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/ai/apple-is-consider...

AI services like Perplexity or OpenAI's SearchGPT could be search engine
options in a future version of Safari, Bloomberg reports. The tentative plans
were shared by Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of services, while on
the stand for Google's ongoing search antitrust case. Cue was called to
testify because of the deal Google and Apple have to keep Google Search as
the default search engine on the iPhone.

Cue claims Apple has discussed a possible Safari-integration with Perplexity,
but didn't share any definitive plans during his testimony. It's clear that
he believes AI assistants will inevitably supplant traditional search
engines, though. "Prior to AI, my feeling around this was, none of the others
were valid choices," Cue said. "I think today there is much greater potential
because there are new entrants attacking the problem in a different way."

Whatever AI search Apple ultimately adds likely won't be the default at
first, according to Cue, but "thereΓÇÖs enough money now, enough large
players, that I donΓÇÖt see how it doesnΓÇÖt happen." There's some evidence
to back up the idea that things are changing, too. According to The Verge,
Cue shared that the number of Google searches in Safari fell for the first
time last month, something "that has never happened in 22 years." It's
entirely possible those missing searches went to ChatGPT or Gemini.

Google pays Apple $18 billion or more a year to keep Google Search as the
default, possibly on top of other financial incentives. Cue's threading a
very fine needle acknowledging the popularity of AI without suggesting that
Google's deals have gotten in the way of other search options growing.
Clearly, both companies would like their mutually beneficial relationship to
stay the same.

Of course, Apple's also had its own public issues with AI in the last few
months. After presenting big plans for how Apple Intelligence would work in
2024, Apple had to delay its updated Siri, the centerpiece of its pitch,
until later this year. The company ultimately made the decision to work with
third-party AI models because its systems weren't up to snuff. That change
could be how conversations about adding AI search engines to Safari came
about in the first place.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/ai/apple-is-consider...
safari-180502229.html?src=rss

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