Apple is looking at adding Perplexity and other AI search engines to Safari

Apple is “actively looking at” bringing AI search options to Safari. Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, made the statement during Google’s antitrust trial on Wednesday, saying the company will likely add AI search features to Safari in the coming year as they continue to improve.

“To date, they’re just not good enough,” Cue said, adding that Apple has already had discussions with Perplexity, OpenAI, and Anthropic. Cue is mindful that it’s still early days for generative AI, and says that with Apple’s existing agreement with OpenAI for other AI services, it was important to “make sure we have the capability to switch if we have to,” in case a different provider leaps ahead.

The statements came as part of Cue’s testimony about the around $20 billion Google pays Apple to make it the default search engine on Safari. Apple currently offers a ChatGPT integration with Siri, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai confirmed last week that the company is getting closer to striking a deal to bring Gemini to the iPhone.

Cue added that searches in Safari fell for the first time last month, something that has “never happened in 22 years.” Under Google’s deal with Apple, the search giant pays Apple a chunk of ad revenue from searches on Safari. Fewer searches mean less revenue for Apple, something he has said he’s “lost a lot of sleep thinking about.”