Apple will reportedly take on OpenAI and Perplexity with its own AI-powered web search. Known internally as the World Knowledge Answers, the feature should launch by next year.
The company will integrate it directly into Siri and may eventually bring it to Safari and Spotlight.
Siri’s Answer engine will search the web for you
Apple’s AI efforts significantly lag its rivals. Almost a year after release, Apple Intelligence still lacks compelling new features. In comparison, both Google and OpenAI are rapidly improving their AI tools and adding impressive new features.
Alongside a revamped Siri, Bloomberg reports Apple is working on an “answer engine.” Built into the new Siri, it will search the web to deliver relevant information from across the internet. Apple essentially wants to replicate ChatGPT and Google’s AI Overviews with the “answer engine” in Siri 2.0.
“Apple’s new search experience will include an interface that makes use of text, photos, video and local points of interest, according to the people. It also will offer an AI-powered summarization system designed to make results more quickly digestible and more accurate than what’s offered by the current Siri,” says Mark Gurman in the report.
Apple and Google come closer to powering next-gen Siri
The report also reveals that Apple and Google signed an agreement earlier this week to power next-gen Siri. As previously detailed, Google will build and supply Apple with an AI model for Siri. The company will first evaluate Google’s AI model and then decide whether to proceed with it or not. Alongside Google, Apple is testing in-house and Anthropic-supplied models.
Lastly, Gurman says Apple is no longer looking to acquire Perplexity. A report from June 2025 indicated the company is seriously considering acquiring the AI startup to supercharge the search experience. It’s still open to acquisitions, but for the AI talent.
The new LLM-powered Siri should debut in spring 2026, presumably with iOS 26.4.
