Apple AI Team Working on ChatGPT Rival

Apple has reportedly formed a team to develop a search experience similar to ChatGPT.

That’s according to a report Sunday (Aug. 3) by Bloomberg News, which says the so-called “Answers, Knowledge and Information” (AKI) group is building an “answer engine” — a system capable of crawling the web for responses to general-knowledge questions.

The report says Apple is exploring a standalone app, as well as new back-end infrastructure aimed at powering search capabilities in future iterations of Siri, Spotlight, and Safari.

Bloomberg notes that Apple has also recently begun advertising job openings for the team on its careers site:

“Our work fuels intuitive information experiences across some of Apple’s most iconic products, including Siri, Spotlight, Safari, Messages, Lookup, and more. Join us in shaping the future of how the world connects with information!”

Many of these listings specifically mention experience with search algorithms and engine development, leading Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman to conclude that while a finished product may still be a long way off, the company is unmistakably working on” a stripped-down, Apple-built approach to ChatGPT-like search.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook said last week that the company planned to “significantly” step up its AI investments and dedicate more staff toward building its Apple Intelligence features.

Speaking during an earnings call, Cook said Apple is making “good progress” on infusing more AI capabilities in Siri, which are due next year. The tech giant aims to come up with a “more personalized” Siri and for AI features in iOS to be “deeply personal, private and seamlessly integrated,” the CEO said.

His comments came two days after reports that investors had grown disillusioned with Apple’s lack of progress on the AI front.

Apple’s investors have reason to be nervous about the company’s “AI crisis,” PYMNTS CEO Karen Webster wrote July 23.

“Apple Intelligence doesn’t appear in any serious public Gen AI rankings,” Webster wrote. “It lags behind even X.ai’s Grok. That’s not a public relations problem. It’s a strategic misstep .

Maybe even a crater-sized hole that could prove Apple’s fatal flaw.”

Webster added that while Apple’s rivals are “accelerating, iterating and launching new GenAI tools and agents across products and platforms,” the iPhone maker is banking on the idea of catching up by weaving OpenAI into Siri…” a year from now.”