Former Googler John Giannandrea Spearheads Apple's New Search Engine

In a surprising move back in 2018, Apple secured the talents of John Giannandrea, Google's then-AI chief responsible for overseeing projects like Google Search. Giannandrea was brought on board to steer Apple's AI and machine learning initiatives, including high-profile projects like Apple Car and Siri. At the time, many speculated that Apple would not be venturing into the search engine space to challenge Google anytime soon. However, a recent Bloomberg report suggests that this milestone has been reached earlier than anticipated.

This revelation comes just a week after Eddie Cue, Apple's SVP of Services, was questioned by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) regarding Google's search engine monopoly. Cue disclosed that Apple pays Google approximately $8 billion annually to keep its search engine as the default option on iPhones and Macs. He also revealed that alternatives like Microsoft's Bing were never considered viable.

Interestingly, this news coincides with reports that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had discussions about selling Bing to Apple, although these talks never materialised. Now, it appears we know why Apple refrained from acquiring Bing or considering other alternatives to Google Search: Giannandrea's team has been busy developing something entirely new.

Internally dubbed "Pegasus," the new search engine will initially be integrated into the App Store and other Apple applications. This follows updates to Spotlight, Apple's OS-level search engine embedded in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. With the iOS 14 update, users gained the ability to search for web results, documents, and even within apps without opening a browser.

Giannandrea's team is now focused on more deeply integrating this search engine into iOS and macOS. They are also exploring the use of generative AI to enhance its capabilities. Apple CEO Tim Cook has indicated that the company has been quietly investing in generative AI for years, and Apple's custom semiconductors are optimally designed for on-device machine learning, offering latency-free experiences.

This initiative builds upon Business Connect, a tool Apple introduced to enrich its information database with details about business hours and locations, thereby bolstering its competitiveness against Google. Applebot, a custom-designed web crawler, is also in the mix, indexing the internet for search results. With the advent of iOS 17 and macOS Sonoma, both Applebot and Pegasus are already powering web results for Siri and Spotlight, which previously relied on Bing and Google Search.

In a classic Apple manoeuvre, the company is working diligently to replace Google Search with its in-house technology. This transition will be gradual, akin to the introduction of Apple Silicon on Macs, but it's only a matter of time. Don't expect any official announcements soon, though.

This development marks the most significant challenge to Google's search engine dominance in decades. Microsoft has revitalised Bing with technology adapted from OpenAI's GPT-4, prompting Google to counter with its Palm-2 model and the forthcoming Gemini, developed by Google's DeepMind team.