Key Takeaways: Apple is developing "World Knowledge Answers," an AI-powered search engine set for spring 2026 launch within Siri. Apple and Google have signed a formal agreement to test Google's Gemin...
Apple Inc. is preparing to launch its own artificial intelligence-powered web search tool next year, marking a significant escalation in competition with OpenAI and emerging AI search companies like Perplexity AI. The initiative represents Apple's most ambitious push into AI-driven search and could reshape how billions of users access information on iPhones.
The company is working on a new system dubbed internally as "World Knowledge Answers" that will be integrated into the Siri voice assistant, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Apple is aiming to release the service, described by some executives as an "answer engine," in the spring as part of a long-delayed overhaul to Siri.
The new search capability will allow Siri to pull information from across the internet and present it in a conversational format similar to ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews, and Perplexity AI's answer engine. Apple has also discussed eventually adding the technology to its Safari web browser and Spotlight, which is used to search from the iPhone home screen.
Apple's new search experience will include an interface that makes use of text, photos, video, and local points of interest. It will also offer an AI-powered summarization system designed to make results more quickly digestible and more accurate than what's offered by the current Siri.
In a notable development, Apple and Google have reached a formal agreement this week for Apple to evaluate and test a Google-developed AI model to help power the voice assistant. The partnership extends Apple's existing multibillion-dollar search deal with Google, even as Apple prepares to compete more directly in the search market.
Apple has been weighing using its own LLM models for these Siri elements or relying on an outside partner like OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google, and it sounds like progress has been made with Google.
Apple and Google have apparently signed a formal agreement that will see Apple evaluating and testing a custom Google-designed Gemini AI model that could power some of the Siri summarization features.
The collaboration comes despite Apple's plans to compete with Google's own AI search offerings, highlighting the complex relationships between major tech companies in the AI era.
Apple is rebuilding Siri around three core components: a planner, the search systems for the web and devices, and a summarizer. The planner interprets voice or text input and decides how to respond; the search system scans the web or user data; and the summarizer pulls it all together into an answer.
Craig Federighi, Apple's head of software engineering, has been leading the strategy alongside John Giannandrea, head of AI, and Eddy Cue, head of services. Mike Rockwell, the creator of the Vision Pro headset, is spearheading the effort under Federighi, while Robby Walker, an ex-Siri chief, is a key driver of the project under Giannandrea.
Apple has formed a new team to build a ChatGPT-like app, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. This team, reportedly called Answers, Knowledge, and Information, is working to build an "answer engine" that can respond to questions using information from across the web.
The initiative comes as Apple faces mounting pressure to catch up in the AI race. Earlier this year, the company's services chief, Eddy Cue, told a courtroom that the number of Google search queries from Apple devices had dropped. "
That has not happened in 20 years," he said. "We're starting to see what I believe are potential formidable competitors" to traditional search engines, he added, referring to AI-based options.
Apple had explored acquiring AI search startup Perplexity to accelerate its capabilities. However, Apple seriously evaluated Perplexity's technology over the summer, but is no longer actively weighing a bid. Instead, its own new search product will compete with the startup's offering.
The company is also dealing with significant talent challenges. Apple's Foundation Models team, a group of several dozen academics, researchers, and engineers, has been bleeding employees for weeks.
At the beginning of July, the department's creator and chief, Ruoming Pang, left for an over $200 million pay package at Meta Platforms Inc. Since then, roughly 10 members of the team have left, with most following Pang to the social networking giant.
Beyond the Siri and AI search upgrades in the first half of next year, Apple is planning a visual redesign of the voice assistant and a health AI agent to power a paid wellness subscription service in 2026. It's also working on an additional Siri update that will bring stronger conversational abilities to upcoming home devices.
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