Apple’s ‘World Knowledge Answers’: an AI search engine for Siri, Safari & Spotlight
Apple is reportedly developing an AI-powered search platform internally called World Knowledge Answers. The tool is expected to be integrated into Siri and rolled into Safari and Spotlight as part of a broader Siri relaunch targeted for early 2026.
Key points
- Purpose: Deliver concise, multimodal answers (text, images, video, local results) to user queries across iOS devices.
- Integration: Planned for Siri, Safari and Spotlight to provide a unified AI answer experience.
- Timeline: Reports indicate a rollout aligned with the Siri relaunch in early 2026.
- Technology: Apple may use outside models (reports mention trials with Google’s Gemini) or mix internal and external models.
- Strategy: This marks a potential shift for Apple into search—an area the company has historically avoided—likely because users increasingly rely on AI assistants for information.
Quote from reporting
“Apple’s new system will generate summaries that blend text, images, video and local results,” according to reports.
Why it matters
If launched, World Knowledge Answers could let Apple compete more directly with AI-driven search and chatbot experiences from Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Perplexity, while keeping users inside Apple’s ecosystem.
Sources
- Search Engine Land — Apple World Knowledge Answers
- TechCrunch — Apple may be building an AI answer engine
- MacRumors — LLM-powered Siri with search expected early 2026
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