Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Working to Add AI Search Options to Safari

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
67,849
38,504


Apple is looking at reworking Safari to directly support AI-powered search services, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.

Apple-Intelligence-General-Feature-2.jpg

Apple's senior vice president of services Eddy Cue today disclosed that Apple is "actively looking at" reshaping Safari around AI search as part of testimony in the lawsuit against Google from the U.S. Justice Department. The dispute centers on the $20 billion deal between Apple and Google that makes the latter the default search engine on Apple devices.

Cue said that searches on Safari dipped for the first time in April 2025—a change which he attributed to users switching to AI services. He added that he believes AI services such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude will eventually replace conventional search engines like Google. As a result, Apple will need to add them as options in Safari in the future. Cue said the company had already held discussions with Perplexity.

The AI options "probably won't be the default," Cue explained, but they will be added "to the list" of options. He said the services still need to improve further. He added:
You may not need an iPhone 10 years from now as crazy as it sounds. The only way you truly have true competition is when you have technology shifts. Technology shifts create these opportunities. AI is a new technology shift, and it's creating new opportunities for new entrants.
Click to expand...

He said that AI services need to improve their search indexes, but, even if this does not happen quickly, users are still likely to switch rapidly because they have other compelling features that are "so much better." Large language models will continue to improve over time, giving users more reason to switch from traditional search to AI. "There's enough money now, enough large players, that I don't see how it doesn't happen," he said.

Nevertheless, Cue said he believes that Google should remain the default search option in Safari. He added that he lost sleep over the possibility of Apple losing the revenue share from the agreement between the two companies. The deal now includes Google Lens integration in Visual Intelligence.

Article Link: Apple Working to Add AI Search Options to Safari
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/05/07/apple-working-on-ai-search-in-safari/
Everything and anything is revolving around AI. The blind march into AI continues

But what I hear from friends and family is that most feel uncomfortable about this obsession in the media and companies about AI.

In reality, the technology can be great and put to some good uses. But most of it is trash, and the risks to data security and privacy, or worse, can be huge.
 
  • Like
  • Love
  • Disagree
Reactions: anakin44011, Jovijoker, gusmula and 16 others
I really wonder if Apple might consider buying The Browser Company. Arc seems like a good way to integrate these types of features into Safari.
 
The AI options "probably won't be the default," Cue explained, but they will be added "to the list" of options. He said the services still need to improve further. He added:
You may not need an iPhone 10 years from now as crazy as it sounds.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
If he doesn't think people will need an iPhone years from now, how are people going to do things like take pics and record videos? No more YouTube, TikTok, Meta, etc in 10 years? 🤞
 
  • Like
Reactions: trip1ex and klasma
Craiger said:
I recently turned off apple intelligence on my phone. I don’t miss it at all.
Click to expand...

You'll eventually come around, as I have. I felt for the longest time that services like ChatGPT couldn't possibly replace my carefully-crafted web searches, but I was wrong. Wrong.

While companies deploying LLM-based solutions need to be held to a high standard, there's no denying that using these services is the quickest way to get comprehensive info and answers from many sources at once.
 
  • Like
  • Haha
  • Disagree
Reactions: jw2002, DelayedGratificationGene, chabig and 11 others
richard4339 said:
Geez, enough with the AI already. We don't want it.
Click to expand...

You. You don't want it. Which is a valid choice, and a reasonable choice, and potentially the best choice for you given a host of factors. But remember that some of us are already leveraging LLMs successfully personally and professionally. Applying AI to generalized search makes a ton of sense, and it's a feature I already use. So better integration at the browser level would be great, especially if Apple leans on established partners rather than its usual Not Invented Here Syndrome nonsense.

Apple's willingness to sidestep its own AI failures and looking to integrate outside partners is great and something I'd like to see them do a lot more of.
 
  • Disagree
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: everlast3434, DelayedGratificationGene, madquack and 9 others
The fact Apple is only pursuing this after the crackdown on their search agreement with Google makes it impossible to ignore how monopolies like Google are using their profits to monopolize markets and interfere with competition. The fact Apple was complicit all these years is a really bad look for them.
 
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: DelayedGratificationGene, nt5672 and klasma
coolfactor said:
You'll eventually come around, as I have. I felt for the longest time that services like ChatGPT couldn't possibly replace my carefully-crafted web searches, but I was wrong. Wrong.

While companies deploying LLM-based solutions need to be held to a high standard, there's no denying that using these services is the quickest way to get comprehensive info and answers from many sources at once.
Click to expand...

I am the opposite. Used it over and over, and found some uses, but ended up just moving back to DDG and stopped using LLMs.

I guess I just don't use the internet like a lot of people. I hit a few bookmarked sites, read email, some news, and that's about it. Don't really do much searching or research.
 
  • Like
Reactions: jw2002 and carswell
coolfactor said:
You'll eventually come around, as I have. I felt for the longest time that services like ChatGPT couldn't possibly replace my carefully-crafted web searches, but I was wrong. Wrong.

While companies deploying LLM-based solutions need to be held to a high standard, there's no denying that using these services is the quickest way to get comprehensive info and answers from many sources at once.
Click to expand...

They're definitely useful, particularly as Google has steadily degraded its search results.
 
  • Like
Reactions: DelayedGratificationGene
Craiger said:
I recently turned off apple intelligence on my phone. I don’t miss it at all.
Click to expand...

I will never understand this brand of contrarianism. Like I understand being skeptical of new technologies—I am too!—but sticking your head in the sand just means you're gonna get left behind. Why would you want to be the old man who doesn't have a cellphone and can't pay his bills online?
 
Last edited:
  • Disagree
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: everlast3434, jw2002, carswell and 7 others
MacRumors said:
He added that he lost sleep over the possibility of Apple losing the revenue share from the agreement between the two companies.
Click to expand...

I've said it here before and I'll say it again—it would be absolutely insane, not to mention unprecedented, for Google to be "punished" for anti-competitive behavior with an additional $20 billion/year stolen from Apple's pocket.
 
coolfactor said:
there's no denying that using these services is the quickest way to get comprehensive info and answers from many sources at once.
Click to expand...

This is a great way to look at it. As the internet has shifted due to the sheer amount of data (a good thing) and manipulating the rank of that data through SEO (a bad thing), having a tool that can deliver a top-view summary has immediate impact. I'm rarely using a search engine to find a specific source anymore. I'm using it to surface information as a starting point for deeper research. An LLM has no equal in that kind of distillation and just saves so much time.
 
  • Like
Reactions: SBlue1
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back