Apple Inc. is “actively looking at” reshaping the Safari web browser on its devices to focus on AI-powered search engines in light of the potential collapse of its Google deal and broader industry shifts. Eddy Cue, Apple’s senior vice president of services, made the disclosure Wednesday during his testimony in the US Justice Department’s lawsuit against Alphabet Inc. The heart of the dispute is Apple and Google’s estimated $20 billion-a-year deal that makes Google the default offering for queries in Apple’s included browser. He also noted that searches on Safari dipped for the first time last month, which he attributed to people using AI. Cue said he believes that AI search providers, including OpenAI, Perplexity AI Inc. and Anthropic PBC, will eventually replace standard search engines like Google. He said he believes Apple will add those players as options in Safari in the future. “We will add them to the list — they probably won’t be the default,” he said, adding that they still need to improve. Cue specifically said the company has had some discussions with Perplexity. “Prior to AI, my feeling around this was, none of the others were valid choices,” Cue said. “I think today there is much greater potential because there are new entrants attacking the problem in a different way.”

Full report : Eddy Cue testifies in US v. Google anti-trust case that Apple is “actively looking at” reshaping Safari to focus on AI search and, in a first, Safari searches dropped in April.