Apple forms AI search team to rival ChatGPT and Perplexity
Apple has previously held discussions with AI search startups, including Perplexity, but the creation of the AKI team indicates a serious commitment to developing a proprietary solution.
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Apple is making a significant push into the AI search space with the formation of a new internal team, signaling its intent to develop a ChatGPT-style conversational search experience. The move comes as the company faces pressure to keep pace with rivals in the rapidly evolving AI landscape.
According to a reports, Apple has created a new team named "Answers, Knowledge, and Information" (AKI) to lead this effort. The formation of this group marks a notable shift from Apple's previous reluctance to build its own chatbot-like services.
This internal initiative follows a mixed reception for "Apple Intelligence," the company's recent AI suite. Features such as Genmoji and Notification Summaries have not yet resonated strongly with users, and a highly-anticipated overhaul of the Siri voice assistant has been delayed for over a year. The frustration surrounding Siri's slow progress was reportedly voiced internally by former Siri executive Robby Walker, who now leads the AKI team.
The AI Search Race
Apple has previously held discussions with AI search startups, including Perplexity, but the creation of the AKI team indicates a serious commitment to developing a proprietary solution. The team's mission is to build AI-powered services that can provide intelligent, conversational search capabilities across Apple's ecosystem.
While no launch timeline has been announced, this internal push is a crucial step for Apple, a company that has traditionally prioritized hardware and often lagged in cloud-based AI services. The outcome of the AKI team's work—whether it becomes a direct competitor to ChatGPT or an enhancement for existing services like Siri and Spotlight—will be a key indicator of Apple's future in the AI search race.
As competitors like Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI continue to advance their own AI offerings, Apple's move to build its own "marketing and sales machine" in this space shows it recognizes the urgency of the moment.
