The U.S. Justice Department is suing
Google
(Alternatively, we can refer to them as Alphabet Inc.), during today’s testimony in court, Apple’s Senior Vice President of Services, Eddy Cue, unleashed shocking information in the courtroom:
Apple
is now “actively exploring” the idea of concentrating its Safari web browser on AI-driven searches rather than using Google Search.
As
Bloomberg
It has been reported that this disclosure represents a “significant upheaval for the sector.”
The built-in search engine utilized by a web browser
with just an 18% slice of the market
It might not appear to be a groundbreaking announcement, yet it serves as additional evidence that significant changes are occurring. These alterations pose a threat to one of the cornerstones of our current internet landscape: Google Search.
As of this writing, Alphabet stock is down 7.5 percent for the day, a sharp drop.
Why AI search matters
Increasingly, some users are
relying on AI chatbots
like ChatGPT for their web searches. Just today, the AI company Anthropic
announced a new API
that would expand the search capabilities of its Claude AI models. ChatGPT-maker OpenAI has also been encroaching on Google Search’s territory, first with the
introduction of ChatGPT Search
in October 2024 and most recently with
new shopping features
.
Currently, even Apple is indicating a move towards AI-driven search capabilities — marking a departure from reliance on Google. Given the widespread use of Apple devices like iPhones, changes in Apple’s search strategy could significantly affect the broader internet landscape.
Apple also stands to lose significant revenue as a result of the Justice Department’s lawsuit, which highlighted the payments Google makes to Apple to use Google as the default search engine on Safari.
In his statement, Cue appeared
to defend the relationship
, which nets Apple $20 billion a year. By highlighting the inevitable shift toward AI search, Cue suggested that Google’s search monopoly is naturally coming to an end.
The news isn’t all bleak for Google, however.
The company’s Gemini AI model has surged to the top of some AI leaderboards, largely due to the truly mind-boggling amount of data Google has at its disposal. And Google itself is diving headfirst into AI search, first with the
introduction of AI overviews
, and subsequently with the
beta for AI Mode
a fresh chatbot-style searching mechanism.
If the trend wasn’t clear before, it is now: the era of Google Search is ending, and the era of AI search is nigh.
Disclosure: In April, Ziff Davis, the parent company of Sazua.com, filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming that they violated Ziff Davis’ copyright during the process of training and running their AI systems.
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