Despite widespread expectations that the arrival of ChatGPT nearly two years ago would bring upheaval to the internet search market, not much has changed. Another strong set of quarterly earnings this week showed that Google has absorbed generative artificial intelligence technology into its search engine and, if anything, is going from strength to strength.
Yet something new is in the air. A number of other events this week pointed towards a more disruptive phase in the AI-powered search wars.
First was Monday’s launch of Apple Intelligence, with a revamped Siri AI assistant as a centrepiece. The integration of OpenAI’s ChatGPT into Siri, due to follow soon, will give iPhone users a new way to search for information. That will open a crack in the tight partnership with Apple that has guaranteed a valuable flow of internet searches to Google — though a US antitrust ruling against Google in August has already threatened to unpick the relationship between the tech giants.