Credit: Peter Burdon via Unsplash
The $20 billion a year deal making Google the default search in Apple’s browser is looking shaky and AI is to blame.
iPhone users are apparently using AI more than Google’s search feature on Apple’s Safari browser.
Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, giving evidence at an Google antitrust trial brought by the US Justice Department, said search volume went down last month for the first time in two decades.
"That has never happened in 20 years,” he said. “If you ask what's happening, it's because people are using ChatGPT. They're using Perplexity. I use it at times.”
Cue said AI search providers could eventually replace standard search engines and that Apple is "actively looking" to bring those options to Safari in the future.
However, Apple would do what's best for the customer. “That is our number one priority,” he said. “What's best for the customer today is to put Google as a default search. So, I don't think you can change that.”
There is already evidence that people are turning away from traditional search engines in favour of AI services. Google itself displays AI summaries at the top of its search page, causing audience referrals to news websites to crumble.
“Personally, my search or research behaviour has changed - less Google search but I am a big fan of Google’s Gemini AI,” said an analyst at investment bank Jefferies.
“We shouldn’t discount Google completely given its Gemini API and AI studio have grown over 200% since the start of this year.”
Google sees what’s happening at Apple differently.
“We continue to see overall query growth in Search,” the company said in a statement.
“That includes an increase in total queries coming from Apple’s devices and platforms.
“More generally, as we enhance Search with new features, people are seeing that Google Search is more useful for more of their queries — and they’re accessing it for new things and in new ways, whether from browsers or the Google app, using their voice or Google Lens.”
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