Apple Plans AI 'Answer Engine' to Rival OpenAI

Product Development & Strategy - Apple is launching an overhauled version of Siri around March, including the ability to tap into personal data and an AI web search tool, named answer engine, as part of an update called iOS 26.4% [1][2][3] - The revamped Siri package includes a redesign, a health subscription service, and conversational features on home devices [5] - Future Siri capabilities include fulfilling queries based on onscreen content and voice-based navigation [6][7] - Apple plans to integrate the new AI features into Safari and Spotlight [3] - Later in the year, Apple will launch a Health Plus subscription service and a visual redesign for Siri, followed by a conversational Siri tied to a new robotic home device [7] Partnerships & Technology - Apple is partnering with OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google to rebuild Siri, with signs pointing to them working with Google's Gemini [10] - Apple and Google signed a formal evaluation agreement for Google's model [11] - Anthropic is also being considered for different parts of Siri, but their asking price is over 15 billion a year, escalating annually for the next three years [11] Market Dynamics & Competition - Google search is very important to Apple, generating roughly 20 billion plus per year, but the industry is shifting [4] - An increasing number of people are using search engines like Perplexity instead of Google [4]