Apple Explores AI Search Integration for Safari

Apple is actively exploring the integration of AI-driven search capabilities into Safari. During Google’s antitrust trial on Wednesday, Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, revealed plans to potentially introduce AI search features to Safari within the next year as part of ongoing enhancements.

“They’re not quite there yet,” Cue noted, referencing discussions already held with Perplexity, OpenAI, and Anthropic. He emphasized the nascent stage of generative AI, highlighting Apple’s existing partnership with OpenAI for other AI functionalities and the need to retain flexibility to pivot to a superior provider if necessary.

Cue’s remarks were part of his testimony regarding the approximately $20 billion Google pays Apple annually to remain Safari’s default search engine. Apple has already integrated ChatGPT with Siri, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai recently indicated progress toward a potential agreement to bring Gemini to the iPhone.

Cue also disclosed that Safari search volumes declined last month for the first time in 22 years. Under Apple’s agreement with Google, the search giant shares a portion of ad revenue from Safari searches. A drop in searches directly impacts Apple’s revenue, a concern Cue admitted has kept him awake at night.