Apple is planning to add AI-powered search options to its Safari browser, according to a Bloomberg report.
Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, stated during his testimony with the US Justice Department that Apple is “actively looking at” reshaping the Safari browser.
Apple To Add AI-Powered Search Options To Safari Browser
Cue revealed that Safari search traffic declined last month — the first time this has happened in 22 years — which he attributed to the growing use of AI tools.
Cue mentioned that AI systems like OpenAI, Perplexity AI, and Anthropic’s Claude AI are likely to replace traditional search engines such as Google Chrome in the future.
He confirmed that Apple will include these AI tools in Safari, although they likely won’t be set as default.
Currently, Google remains the default search engine on Safari, and Apple is paid around $20 billion per year for this arrangement.
Analysts estimate that this deal with Apple accounts for about 36% of Google’s search ad revenue from Safari.
Apple Is In Active Discussions With OpenAI, Perplexity, and Anthropic
Apple is in active discussions with OpenAI, Perplexity, and Anthropic about integrating their AI tools into Safari.
Cue explained that before the rise of AI, alternative search options were not seen as viable, but now new AI entrants are approaching the search problem in innovative ways.
He said, “Prior to AI, my feeling around this was, none of the others were valid choices. I think today there is much greater potential because there are new entrants attacking the problem in a different way.”
Apple already integrates OpenAI’s ChatGPT into Siri and is planning to add Google’s Gemini AI later in the year.
Other AI tools under consideration by Apple include Anthropic, Perplexity, DeepSeek (China-based), and Grok from Elon Musk’s xAI.
Cue noted that the OpenAI deal allows Apple flexibility to introduce additional AI providers, including Apple’s in-house AI models.
Following Cue’s remarks, Alphabet’s (Google’s parent company) shares dropped 8%, leading to a $160 billion loss in market value on May 7, 2025.
