When Apple announced its version of AI for the masses in the form of Apple Intelligence last year, it integrated ChatGPT's functions to power Siri and its suite of apps. At the time, it was made clear that the company won't offer a dedicated app to access the AI features but the latest developments indicate that Apple in fact working on an AI search tool that will offer an experience similar to ChatGPT.
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is assembling a new Answers, Knowledge and Information (AKI) team to design a new "answer engine" tool. This tool once ready should be able to crawl through the web to answer "general-knowledge" questions, similar to how one would search something on ChatGPT.
The AKI or "Answers" team will be spearheaded by former Siri head Robby Walker, who will report to Apple's AI chief John Giannandrea. On its career site, company has started listing job openings for the AKI team with experience required in "search algorithms and engine development". As per the listings, the Answers search experience will focus on AI-powered search capabilities inside "Siri, Spotlight, Safari, Messages, Lookup, and more".
The report also mentions that Apple is looking to partner with other AI startups like Perplexity to power their upcoming search functionality. Alongside an AI-powered search experience inside apps, Gurman notes that Apple is also exploring a "standalone app" that could offer users the ability to look up answers to "world knowledge" questions, similar to what ChatGPT offers.
With this development, the Cupertino company could bring something similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. This, with no doubt, will be an upgrade over Apple Intelligence's current iteration which only allows users to summarise notifications, translate texts, reimagine photos and create Genmojis. With "Answers", Apple's AI could be easily accessible on a more conversational level and let iPhone users do the simplest of tasks with – search.
At the time, there's no information on when the new "answer engine" will make its way to iPhones and other Apple devices. With the much anticipated Apple Intelligence-powered Siri upgrade expected to come in early 2026, we believe it'll take a little longer before the upcoming tool gets released.
