Apple Eyes AI Search Partners

Apple explores AI search partners for Safari as Google usage falls. Apple is actively exploring partnerships with emerging AI search provide...

Apple explores AI search partners for Safari as Google usage falls.

Apple is actively exploring partnerships with emerging AI search providers such as Perplexity and Anthropic to integrate AI-powered information retrieval into its Safari browser. This move reflects Apple’s shift toward more intelligent and conversational forms of search across its ecosystem, including iPhones, iPads, and Macs.

The discussions come at a time when Apple is seeing a rare decline in Safari’s search activity—a drop attributed to growing user interest in AI-driven search tools that offer summarized and context-aware results instead of traditional keyword listings. These changes in user behavior are raising concerns over the potential loss of advertising revenue tied to web search traffic.

For years, Apple has had a lucrative agreement with Google—worth an estimated $18 billion annually—making Google the default search engine on Safari. However, this deal is now under the microscope in an ongoing U.S. antitrust case that questions whether such exclusivity arrangements harm competition.

As the regulatory pressure mounts, Apple is signaling a willingness to diversify its search offerings. By potentially incorporating conversational AI search assistants like Perplexity, which can cite sources and generate concise answers, or Claude by Anthropic, which excels at privacy-preserving and reasoning-based responses, Apple could offer Safari users an alternative to traditional search engines.

The broader shift toward AI in search is transforming the competitive landscape. While Google has introduced its own AI-driven features such as Search Generative Experience (SGE), newer entrants are gaining traction by rethinking the search experience from the ground up.

If Apple proceeds with these partnerships, Safari could become the first mainstream browser to deeply embed AI search alternatives by default. Such a move would not only change how millions of people access information but could also further disrupt the web’s advertising ecosystem and realign market power away from traditional search engines.

As AI continues to redefine how we interact with digital content, Apple appears poised to embrace a future in which intuitive, context-aware systems take center stage in our search for knowledge.