Apple is said to be working on a ChatGPT competitor for search queries
According to a report, a new group within Apple's AI team is working on an "answer engine" that is somewhat reminiscent of Perplexity.
Different icons of chatbot applications on an iOS device: Does Apple want to play along?
(Image: Tada Images/Shutterstock)
Apple's struggling Apple Intelligence team is currently in the process of setting up its own AI search team, according to a report. As Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman wrote in his newsletter on Sunday, the team is called "Answers, Knowledge and Information" ("Answers, Knowledge and Information", AKI for short) and is based under Robby Walker. He had actually recently lost the Siri team at Apple to engineering manager Mike Rockwell, who was previously (co-)responsible for Vision Pro, among other things. Walker currently holds the title of "Senior Director" and reports to the head of AI, John Giannandrea, who himself is considered to be under fire.
AKI team or Perplexity takeover?
The AKI team is currently in an early phase with an "answer engine", according to the report. Among other things, they are investigating whether they want to implement a "ChatGPT-like search experience". This could then actually become Apple's first "real" chatbot, although the company in the form of software boss Craig Federighi actually seems to reject such an idea. However, it is conceivable that Apple could implement an AI system in this style , at least for its support app.
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Apple's approach is also intended to help offset losses that could result from the end of the multi-billion-euro search deal with Google. Head of Services Eddy Cue had already hinted that a decline in search engine queries was being noticed because people were increasingly relying on AI search results. However, Google rejected this. Apple is also said to have been in negotiations with the AI search engine Perplexity. Group CEO Tim Cook confirmed just last week that the company can imagine billion-dollar takeovers.
"Innovative information experiences"
Apple Intelligence does not currently include a search function, but relies on AI summaries, text changes or image generators, whereby the products are all considered to be inferior to ChatGPT, Claude & Co. So-called world knowledge, on the other hand, is obtained via OpenAI's ChatGPT, which users can activate if they wish. But now at least the search could come from Apple itself in the foreseeable future – as a condensed chatbot. According to Gurman, the AKI team is working on its own web crawler that obtains data from the internet and then makes it available to users via a chatbot interface.
A separate app is also conceivable, plus new backend infrastructures that Apple could then use for Siri, Spotlight or Safari. Apple itself is currently looking for suitable employees who want to work on "innovative information experiences across Apple's most iconic products". These include Siri, Spotlight, Safari, the News app and the Lookup function. However, Apple currently has a completely different problem here: the Apple Intelligence team has already lost at least four employees to Meta, where huge salaries are paid for AI experts.
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