Apple’s wandering eye is good for everyone but Google

IN technology, disruption can happen slowly and then all at once. Alphabet’s Google unit is praying for the former right now.

Executives at the company have been racing to stave off a decline to its bread-and-butter search business ever since ChatGPT exploded onto the scene in late 2022. Now Apple, one of Google’s most important partners in that business, has confirmed the search giant’s efforts aren’t working. The company is “actively looking at” revamping the Safari Web browser on iPhones and other devices so that instead of offering Google by default, they’ll potentially show other AI tools from firms such as OpenAI, Perplexity AI and Anthropic PBC.

The stunning admission sent Alphabet’s share down more than 8 per cent on Wednesday, and for good reason. It portends not only the potential end of Google’s lucrative marriage with Apple, which has received US$20 billion annually for that prime real estate, but also shows that the public is moving away from keyword searches to conversational AI and chatbots.