Apple is looking at reworking Safari to directly support AI-powered search services, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports.
Apple's senior vice president of services Eddy Cue today disclosed that Apple is "actively looking at" reshaping Safari around AI search as part of testimony in the lawsuit against Google from the U.S. Justice Department. The dispute centers on the $20 billion deal between Apple and Google that makes the latter the default search engine on Apple devices.
Cue said that searches on Safari dipped for the first time in April 2025—a change which he attributed to users switching to AI services. He added that he believes AI services such as ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude will eventually replace conventional search engines like Google. As a result, Apple will need to add them as options in Safari in the future. Cue said the company had already held discussions with Perplexity.
The AI options "probably won't be the default," Cue explained, but they will be added "to the list" of options. He said the services still need to improve further. He added:
You may not need an iPhone 10 years from now as crazy as it sounds. The only way you truly have true competition is when you have technology shifts. Technology shifts create these opportunities. AI is a new technology shift, and it's creating new opportunities for new entrants.
He said that AI services need to improve their search indexes, but, even if this does not happen quickly, users are still likely to switch rapidly because they have other compelling features that are "so much better." Large language models will continue to improve over time, giving users more reason to switch from traditional search to AI. "There's enough money now, enough large players, that I don't see how it doesn't happen," he said.
Nevertheless, Cue said he believes that Google should remain the default search option in Safari. He added that he lost sleep over the possibility of Apple losing the revenue share from the agreement between the two companies. The deal now includes Google Lens integration in Visual Intelligence.
