ZDNET’s key takeaways
- Apple reportedly has an AI search within the works.
- The AI search expertise might have a standalone app and energy Siri.
- Well timed and strategic launch with broader success of AI serps.
With the launch of Apple Intelligence, Apple sought to enter the AI area after a considerably late entry. Nevertheless, a number of delays of its most sought-after characteristic, together with Siri 2.0, have made it tough to maintain up with extra established rivals. A brand new report particulars an AI product within the works which will assist bolster Apple’s place.
On Sunday, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported within the Power On e-newsletter that Apple’s recently-assembled Solutions, Data, and Info (AKI) workforce is engaged on a ChatGPT rival that can give customers simpler entry to the breadth of knowledge out there on conventional search.
Apple didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
What’s the product?
The report stated that the product is supposed to perform as an “reply engine” that may present responses to normal information questions, leveraging the net. This can be a main pivot from the present strategy, as Apple by no means developed its personal search engine, even within the pre-AI period. As soon as it got here to incorporating generative AI, it relied on OpenAI’s ChatGPT to feed customers responses that Siri cannot entry.
(Disclosure: Ziff Davis, ZDNET’s father or mother firm, filed an April 2025 lawsuit towards OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in coaching and working its AI techniques.)
Apple is reportedly additionally exploring the creation of a standalone app for this expertise and back-end infrastructure that may energy the search capabilities for different Apple choices, together with Siri, Highlight, and Safari, sooner or later. This might be a serious win for customers as it will enable them to entry the data they want from the net conversationally and natively inside their favourite apps within the Apple expertise. The standalone app might additionally pose a worthy rival to these of different AI searches available on the market, akin to ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, and Perplexity, all out there for obtain on iOS now — with the benefit that it will be native to the Apple ecosystem of instruments.
More and more, extra customers are turning to AI serps to conduct their queries for the above-mentioned queries. The Pew Research Center simply launched a report displaying that Google customers are much less prone to click on on hyperlinks when an AI abstract seems, probably as a result of they discover the entire data they want within the overview. On account of this demand, an increasing number of firms have launched their very own takes on AI serps, making it strategic for Apple to discover this space.
This transfer is especially related now, because the US Division of Justice’s antitrust lawsuit towards Google has entered a cures section, which can put an finish to the multi-billion-dollar deal that makes Google the default search engine on Apple gadgets.
What can Apple do to face out?
Apple’s benefit is that it could possibly combine its personal model of an AI search engine immediately into its merchandise, which billions of individuals depend on day-after-day. If Apple can create a search expertise that’s practical and truly useful in getting customers the data they want quicker, it couldn’t solely be a characteristic customers take pleasure in when looking for new data, but in addition optimize different experiences on their telephones.
For instance, think about a Siri that would pull data in actual time from the net, perceive person intent, and serve the responses conversationally. Whereas that is, largely, what Siri 2.0 was presupposed to be, a local AI search engine might additional improve its capabilities by having it pull immediately from an Apple product relatively than counting on a third-party stripped-down expertise. The AI search expertise may be accessible in apps like Messages or Mail to entry real-time details about what you might be sending communications about, which might be a useful gizmo for customers.
One other added bonus is that it’s going to probably preserve the identical look and interface of Apple’s ecosystem of gadgets, which Apple customers will not be solely conversant in, but in addition choose. For instance, when I’m requested which chatbot is the best fit for users, I sometimes inform customers who’re deep into the Google ecosystem of instruments and gadgets to make use of Gemini, as a result of, whereas it presents the general similar use case because the others, it has the identical appear and feel of the google merchandise which make sit a greater match.
Nevertheless, it’s tough to beat Google, which has dominated the search marketplace for a long time. For instance, Bing tried to meet up with its personal integration of AI, and whereas it did contribute to a surge of over 40 million daily active users, it nonetheless pales compared to Google’s market share. In line with StatCounter, as of July 2025, Google holds 90% of the search engine market share worldwide, whereas Bing solely holds 4%. Whereas these numbers are discouraging, it would not seem to be Apple is in search of to compete within the AI area, however would relatively choose so as to add on to what its customers can make the most of and make its suite of AI instruments extra sturdy.
