Expert on Apple insights on search: AI indeed threatens Google

After Eddy Cue, Apple’s services chief, testified in court that he believed artificial intelligence (AI) search engines would eventually replace standard search engines such as Google, an expert tells Cybernews: he’s correct.

Cue was testifying in a federal court in Washington as part of the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Alphabet, Google’s parent company.

The judge is deciding what penalties the search giant deserves after ruling last year that Google had illegally dominated advertising technology markets. One major aspect of the case is Google’s practice of paying platform providers, such as Apple, to become the default search engine on their platform.

That’s why Cue appeared in court. Google pays Apple billions of dollars per year for the privilege of being the default option on iPhones – if Alphabet is no longer allowed to do that, Apple will lose all that money.

Cue himself testified that he has “lost sleep” over the possibility of losing the revenue share from the two companies’ agreement, according to Bloomberg.

However, just as important was his stated opinion that AI search providers will eventually replace standard search engines like Google and that Apple will bring those options to Safari soon.

Such a revamp would undoubtedly signal the potential end of Apple’s longtime partnership with Google – or at least that the company is preparing for that eventuality.

Cue said he expects to add AI services from OpenAI, Perplexity, and Anthropic as search options. Already in June 2024, Apple and OpenAI announced a deal to integrate ChatGPT into Apple products.

After Cue’s appearance in court, Alphabet shares immediately sank more than 7%. That’s not surprising, Damian Rollison, senior director of market insights at SOCi, a marketing platform for multi-location brands, told Cybernews.

“Apple may be angling to improve Google's chances in the DOJ case in order to preserve its lucrative deal with the company,” Rollison allowed.

“But it's directionally correct that AI platforms are presenting an ever-increasing threat to Google and other search engines.”

SOCi’s own Consumer Behavior Index shows that 19% of consumers now use AI tools regularly for search, and that number is growing rapidly. The company even says that “Just Google it!” is now an outdated piece of advice.

“What AI tools like ChatGPT offer is a new kind of user experience, free of ads and remarkably effective at providing nuanced, personalized answers to simple and complex questions alike,” Rollison said.

“As AI tools move further into territory now dominated by Google and other big tech players, such as commercial transactions, they will become increasingly viable as preferred alternatives for a broad range of consumer needs.”

That might be true. However, there’s a long way to go – a study by OneLittleWeb recently revealed that even though AI chatbot traffic grew by 81% YoY, it still trails behind traditional search engines by a factor of 34x.

Moreover, despite ChatGPT’s massive growth, it’s still visited 26 times less often than Google. Traditional search engines are actually bouncing back, the report says, because Google and Bing are successfully integrating AI features in their systems.