Apple's artificial intelligence response squad emerges as a potential Google competitor
Apple's latest venture, the Answers, Knowledge, and Information (AKI) team, is an internal project aimed at developing a smart, conversational "answer engine" that rivals Google Search, ChatGPT, and other generative AI platforms. The goal is to significantly upgrade Apple’s AI capabilities, especially for Siri, Safari, and Spotlight, by creating smarter, privacy-focused, and more contextually aware AI services.
The AKI team is led by Robby Walker, a former Siri executive who has openly criticized Siri's delays and shortcomings, and who is tasked with overhauling Apple’s AI services from the ground up. The project is still in early development with many key roles unfilled, and no public launch timeline has been announced. A public rollout is likely still years away.
The team aims to produce AI that can process conversational queries, incorporate personal context, and perform in-app actions intelligently—capabilities that Siri has struggled to deliver so far. Apple seeks to build a privacy-first AI search experience that can work across its ecosystem, potentially integrated into existing products or as a standalone app. This is a shift away from relying on external search engines or AI platforms.
The AKI project is seen as critical to closing the AI gap with competitors like Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, who have rapidly advanced their conversational AI and search technologies. Apple's advantage could be contextual understanding, as it has system-level access to apps like Notes, Calendar, Mail, and Photos, allowing it to offer answers that combine public knowledge with private context.
Until then, Apple is relying on external models like ChatGPT and is reportedly exploring partnerships with Anthropic, Google, and Perplexity AI. The AI system being developed is not just for Siri, but is expected to appear across the Apple ecosystem in Spotlight, Safari, Mail, Messages, Calendar, and possibly as a standalone app.
Apple's goal is not just to display results, but to be the source of answers across a user's digital life. Its AI pitch is that it doesn't collect user data, with the statement "We don't know who you are, and that's the point." The privacy model for Apple’s AI is based on on-device models and a new secure cloud system called Private Cloud Compute. Most interactions with Apple's AI will remain on the user's device or be encrypted in transit.
In summary, Apple’s AKI team represents a major strategic shift toward building proprietary, conversational AI search tools that aim to combine Apple’s dedication to privacy with powerful generative AI, setting the stage to rival Google Search and ChatGPT in usefulness and sophistication over the coming years.
The AKI team, under the leadership of Robby Walker, is developing an AI that can intelligently process conversational queries, incorporate personal context, and perform in-app actions, potentially setting a new standard for Siri, Safari, and Spotlight. This AI system, aimed at providing a privacy-focused, contextually aware search experience, is part of Apple's strategy to close the AI gap with competitors and become a source of answers across a user's digital life, leveraging its unique access to private data and commitment to user privacy.
