Key takeaways
- Apple plans to launch an AI-powered web search tool integrated with Siri next Spring.
- The new feature, called World Knowledge Answers, aims to enhance Siri's ability to handle complex queries.
- Apple is favoring Google's Gemini over Anthropic’s Claude due to more favorable financial terms.
- The Siri overhaul will also include a visual redesign and a health-focused AI agent for 2026.
Apple is preparing to launch an AI-based web search service next year, stepping up competition with OpenAI and Perplexity AI, Bloomberg reported. The system, internally known as World Knowledge Answers, will be integrated with Siri and could later expand to Safari and Spotlight.
The new feature, described by Apple executives as an answer engine, is expected to arrive next Spring as part of a broader Siri overhaul. “The work we’ve done on this end-to-end revamp of Siri has given us the results we needed,” Craig Federighi, head of software engineering at Apple, reportedly told employees in a recent all-hands meeting.
The update will enable Siri to handle more complex queries by tapping LLMs. Apple is testing models from Google and Anthropic, while continuing to use its own Apple Foundation Models for on-device search.
According to Bloomberg, Apple has leaned towards Google’s Gemini for summarisation, citing more favourable financial terms after Anthropic sought over $1.5 billion annually for its Claude model.
The overhaul, internally codenamed Linwood and LLM Siri, will allow the assistant to summarise web results using text, images, videos and local information. Apple is also working on a visual redesign of Siri and a health-focused AI agent, slated for release in 2026.
The initiative comes as Apple maintains its $20 billion-a-year search arrangement with Google. A US judge this week ruled the deal can continue with minor adjustments, easing investor concerns.
Google’s market cap rose by about $228 billion on September 4, closing at a record high of $2.79 trillion.
However, Apple’s SVP of services, Eddy Cue, recently testified that Google searches from Apple devices have declined for the first time in two decades, noting the rise of “formidable competitors” in AI-powered search.
While Apple explored acquisitions of startups such as Perplexity and Mistral, it has opted to develop its own system. Bloomberg reported that Perplexity’s technology was seriously evaluated, but the company is no longer pursuing a deal.
Despite the push, Apple’s AI division has faced attrition. Key members of its Foundation Models team, including founder Ruoming Pang, have left for rivals like Meta, OpenAI and Anthropic.
