In the most recent issue of the Power On newsletter, Mark Gurman reveals that Apple is actively progressing toward launching its own AI chatbot ahead of iPhone 17 launch. Gurman notes that earlier this year, Apple established a dedicated team named “Answers, Knowledge, and Information” to build various internal AI tools — one of which is said to be a search feature similar to ChatGPT.
“While still in early stages, the team is building what it calls an ‘answer engine’ — a system capable of crawling the web to respond to general-knowledge questions,” wrote Gurman. “A standalone app is currently under exploration, alongside new back-end infrastructure meant to power search capabilities in future versions of Siri, Spotlight and Safari.”
This new initiative is being overseen by Robby Walker:
This new initiative is being overseen by Robby Walker, who previously headed Siri’s development. Walker was taken off the Siri team and subsequently assigned to lead this specialized AI group.
Apple has yet to make a significant impact in the AI landscape. While the company did unveil its Apple Intelligence platform, it openly acknowledged a series of setbacks — including postponed features. One of the most notable delays involves the enhanced integration of ChatGPT with Siri, which was expected to bring a more tailored, AI-driven experience to the voice assistant.
Primary mission of Apple’s AKI team is to develop an innovative search interface:
As per the report, the primary mission of Apple’s “Answers, Knowledge, and Information” (AKI) team is to develop an innovative search interface that mimics the interactive capabilities of modern chatbots like ChatGPT and Perplexity AI. In the past, Apple had considered collaborating with emerging companies specializing in AI-powered search tools to accelerate this effort.
During a recent earnings call, Apple CEO Tim Cook indicated that the company is “open to mergers and acquisitions that push [its] roadmap forward.”
This comes amid growing investor pressure urging Apple to pursue external collaborations or acquisitions to strengthen its AI capabilities. Some shareholders are reportedly advocating for Apple to consider buying Perplexity—a rapidly expanding AI search startup founded by Indian-American technologist Arvind Srinivas—as a way to reinvent Siri and stay competitive in the AI race.
