INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Apple executive Eddie Cue said that Apple is "actively looking at" shifting the focus of mobile Safari's search experience to AI search
engines, potentially challenging Google's longstanding search dominance and the two companies' lucrative default search engine deal
The statements were made while Cue testified for the US Department of Justice in the Alphabet/Google antitrust trial, as first reported in
Bloomberg.Cue noted that searches in Safari fell for the first time ever last year, and attributed the shift to users increasingly using
large language model-based solutions to perform their searches."Prior to AI, my feeling around this was, none of the others were valid
choices," Cue said of the deal Apple had with Google, which is a key component in the DOJ's case against Alphabet
He added: "I think today there is much greater potential because there are new entrants attacking the problem in a different way."Here he
Cue said Apple has had talks with Perplexity already.Speaking of AI-based search engines in general, he said "we will add them to the
