Apple quietly builds its own generative-AI search engine

Apple has established a new team called Answers, Knowledge and Information (AKI) to create an "answer engine" that can crawl the web and return conversational results, marking the company's first concrete step toward a proprietary rival to ChatGPT-style services.

While Siri can now forward queries to ChatGPT, it still lacks a native conversational search layer and frequently defaults to traditional Google results. Internally, some executives questioned consumer appetite for chatbots, yet worldwide uptake of services like ChatGPT and Gemini has highlighted the commercial risk of staying still.

AKI is led by senior director Robby Walker, formerly responsible for Siri. His team is prototyping both a standalone app and new back-end infrastructure intended to power Siri, Spotlight, and Safari in future software releases. Recent job listings call for engineers versed in search algorithms, signalling that Apple intends to own the core technology rather than act merely as an integrator.

Competitive pressure, however, is mounting. The U.S. Justice Department's antitrust case could upend Apple's lucrative agreement that keeps Google search as the default on iOS, reportedly worth about $20 billion a year. Generative AI is also lowering barriers to entry: Apple has explored partnerships with Perplexity AI and is described as "very open" to acquisitions as it ramps up spending on artificial-intelligence infrastructure.

At the same time, Apple's internal capability is being tested by talent losses. Four key members of the Apple Foundation Models group have defected to Meta's new super-intelligence lab within the past month, lured by larger compensation packages and the promise of working on more advanced systems. Their departure fuels speculation that Apple may need to license third-party large-language models for Siri even as it builds its own search engine.

Taken together, these developments suggest Apple is positioning itself to blend on-device privacy with a home-grown generative-search experience, an attempt to reduce dependence on Google, retain AI talent, and deliver a distinctly Apple-branded alternative to ChatGPT and Gemini in the coming years.