Throughout final yr’s Worldwide Builders Convention (WWDC), Apple unveiled “AI for the remainder of us” — a brand new set of options dubbed Apple Intelligence. Nonetheless, it’s not a giant secret that issues haven’t been going swimmingly effectively for Apple in delivering on all the pieces it’s promised.
Whereas a sequence of iOS 18 level releases introduced us most of what Apple confirmed off, from Writing Instruments and summaries to Genmoji and Picture Playground, most of those weren’t notably revolutionary. Apple’s tackle them was recent, and the tight integration was good, however the core instruments had been carried out earlier than.
The one game-changing characteristic Apple promised, a extra customized Siri, stays lacking over a yr later. Whereas firm executives made it clear at this yr’s WWDC that they’re nonetheless engaged on it, in addition they candidly admitted that we shouldn’t count on to see something earlier than early 2026, at the very least a yr later than it was alleged to be delivered.
In the meantime, a lot of the true energy behind Apple Intelligence has already seemingly been ceded to OpenAI’s ChatGPT. Present iOS 18 options like Visible Intelligence and extra advanced Siri requests already depend on the third-party chatbot, and the main enhancements to Picture Playground this yr are a number of new types which can be totally backed by ChatGPT. Apple brings privateness and a extra seamless expertise into the combo, however finally, it’s OpenAI’s servers doing all of the heavy lifting.
Apple is already late to the sport, and now it’s falling even additional behind rivals like Google, which already delivered a conversational chatbot in Android 15 final yr. Final yr, probably the most optimistic predictions recommended that Apple might need Siri able to deal with this type of factor by early 2026, however current obstacles in enhancing Siri have pushed that extra absolutely practical model again to at the very least 2027.
So, it’s most likely not stunning that Apple is contemplating wanting to herald some heavier artillery. In accordance with a current report from Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple executives have been in preliminary talks about making a bid to completely purchase synthetic intelligence startup Perplexity AI.
Adrian Perica, the corporate’s head of mergers and acquisitions, has weighed the thought with providers chief Eddy Cue and high AI decision-makers, based on individuals with information of the matter. The discussions are at an early stage and will not result in a proposal, mentioned the individuals, who requested to not be recognized as a result of the matter is personal.
Mark Gurman
Such a deal would give Apple entry to Perplexity’s AI expertise and current expertise stack, however it could even be the biggest acquisition within the firm’s historical past, eclipsing its $3 billion buy of Beats ten years in the past by an order of magnitude.
Perplexity is at the moment valued at $14 billion primarily based on its final funding spherical. That means the worth Apple would pay is at the very least in that ballpark, plus or minus a few billion {dollars} (however what’s a couple of billion between pals?)
Nonetheless, Apple’s curiosity in Perplexity could also be further-reaching than merely enhancing Apple Intelligence as we all know it right now. Gurman believes that the deal would additionally assist Apple develop an AI-based search engine that might assist offset the lack of its profitable search take care of Google.
Whereas rumors of Apple constructing a search engine have been circulating for effectively over a decade, most analysts and pundits have typically agreed that it’s not in Apple’s finest pursuits to take action. There are lots of causes for this, together with the shortage of curiosity in focused promoting or any robust competency in that space.
Nonetheless, the largest cause is the obvious one: Google pays Apple at the very least $20 billion yearly to be the default search engine on iPhones, iPads, and Macs. It’s far simpler for Apple to let another person do the work and reap the rewards than attempt to reinvent the wheel.
Apple’s curiosity in search might change if that deal goes away, and there’s a superb probability it would with the US Division of Justice levying antitrust sanctions towards Google.
Whereas Apple’s discussions about an outright acquisition stay inside and have but to be introduced up with Perplexity’s administration, the 2 firms have reportedly met a number of instances in current months, suggesting that the 2 firms may merely staff as much as combine Perplexity AI into Safari internet search and Siri. It’s unclear if this could be a deeper integration than different search engines like google and AI extensions like ChatGPT.
Apple is likely to be leaning extra towards a full acquisition to safe extra unique rights to Perplexity AI. The corporate already has a take care of Samsung within the works for a deep partnership in future Galaxy smartphones, and the very last thing Apple desires to do is observe Samsung’s lead.
[The information provided in this article has NOT been confirmed by Apple and may be speculation. Provided details may not be factual. Take all rumors, tech or otherwise, with a grain of salt.]