After the "upgraded" artificial intelligence experience of "Apple Intelligence" was announced at WWDC 2025, Apple may further strengthen its search engine and other service layouts. According to Bloomberg News, Apple's senior management is currently discussing whether to acquire a startup that focuses on generative artificial intelligence search technology.Perplexity AI, in order to accelerate the launch of its own search engine that combines artificial intelligence technology, and integrate related capabilities into the new version of Siri digital assistant service.
Reports indicate that Apple's head of mergers and acquisitions, Adrian Perica, has held multiple discussions regarding this proposal with Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of network software and services, and senior executives responsible for AI technology development. While these discussions are still in the early stages of internal planning, no formal acquisition offer has been made to Perplexity AI. However, the two parties have met several times over the past few months, and a strategic partnership is not ruled out.
Perplexity AI is one of the fastest-growing AI startups in recent years. Its main feature is its ability to quickly organize information sources using a question-and-answer format similar to ChatGPT and generate concise answers for faster user understanding. If Apple were to integrate Perplexity AI's technology into Safari or Siri, it would significantly strengthen its services' competitiveness in the AI search space.
It is worth mentioning that Eddy Cue previously participated in the US Department of Justice's case against Google for search monopoly.testify in courtAt the time, Apple revealed that it and Perplexity AI had discussed integrating the service into Safari, but provided no further details on future plans. Given Apple and Google's existing multi-billion dollar annual search engine partnership, if the US Department of Justice were to demand that Google and Apple terminate their partnership, Apple would have to switch to its own search engine, a technology partnership with Perplexity AI that could fill this void.
Apple, like competitors like Meta, is actively seeking talent in the AI field. Sources indicate that Apple is even competing with Meta to poach Daniel Gross, who co-founded the AI company Safe Superintelligence. The company hopes to bridge the gap in AI technology with companies like OpenAI and Google by investing in both talent and technology.
Apple has repeatedly postponed the release of the new version of Siri, previously announced at WWDC 2024, because the artificial intelligence features of "Apple Intelligence" are not yet ready, highlighting the challenges it still faces in integrating large-scale natural language models and generative artificial intelligence deployment development.
If the acquisition of Perplexity AI is successful, it will help Apple strengthen its semantic understanding and search algorithm capabilities, and also introduce more powerful artificial intelligence interactive experiences to platforms such as iPhone, Mac and Vision Pro.
