Sean Walsh
Sean is a Director at Intelligency heading up our digital marketing and client services operations. Sean has 15+ years experiencing working both in-house and agency with brands including Lloyds, Alstom, Hitachi, Lufthansa, Viaplay, DFDS Seaways and Mercedes-Benz.
Apple is preparing a significant shift in how people will search for and receive information on their devices. According to Bloomberg, the company will launch its own AI-powered search engine, known internally as World Knowledge Answers, in 2026. This new system will be deeply integrated into Siri, Safari, and Spotlight on iPhones and other Apple devices. For marketers, it signals a change that could reshape the way people interact with brands online.
A new role for Siri
At its core, the upgrade will transform Siri from a voice assistant that handles simple fact-checking into something far more sophisticated: an “answer engine.” Instead of just retrieving information from a single source, Siri will be able to generate summaries that blend text, images, video, and even local results. In practical terms, asking Siri a question will no longer produce a list of links. Instead, users will receive a polished, multimodal response that feels much closer to having a conversation with a knowledgeable assistant.
Apple also plans to extend this capability into its Safari browser and Spotlight search function, making AI-driven answers part of people’s everyday digital habits rather than a separate app.
The technology behind it
Behind the scenes, Apple will partly rely on Google’s Gemini AI model, one of the most advanced large language models (LLMs) currently available. To put that in simple terms, LLMs are the “brains” behind modern AI assistants, trained on vast amounts of data to generate human-like responses. Apple has also been building its own features to improve planning, summarisation, and the conversational quality of Siri’s answers.
This combination will allow Apple to offer answers that go far beyond the short, factual responses Siri has been known for until now.
The wider AI landscape
Apple’s move comes at a time when the AI search space is heating up fast. Google has already rolled out AI Overviews in its search results, giving users summaries generated by Gemini.
- OpenAI’s ChatGPT remains the best-known conversational AI, used for everything from drafting copy to answering complex questions.
- Perplexity has emerged as a nimble new player, combining direct answers with linked sources for credibility.
- Microsoft has taken another route, embedding AI into Bing and across its Office tools under the Copilot brand.
Until now, Apple has been noticeably slower to enter this race. But with Siri already installed on hundreds of millions of devices worldwide, its arrival could instantly make AI search mainstream for everyday users.
Why this matters to marketers
The implications for marketers are significant. Visibility online will no longer depend solely on Google rankings. Apple’s system will decide how to summarise and surface content, which means brands need to think carefully about how their information is presented and whether it can be pulled into an AI-driven answer.
The shift towards “answers rather than clicks” also means fewer people may visit a website if Siri provides the information directly. That makes it vital to ensure brand mentions, authoritative sources, and locally relevant details are present and easy for AI to access.
Voice search, which has been a slow-burn trend for years, could finally become a major part of how consumers engage with brands. If Siri becomes a genuinely helpful research tool, content written in natural, conversational language will have a better chance of being surfaced. Local businesses should also be alert, as Apple’s integration of location-specific results will make strong local optimisation just as important as it is with Google today.
Marketers’ next steps
To prepare for Apple’s launch in 2026, marketers should start considering AI search visibility alongside traditional SEO. That means reviewing how well your content answers questions directly, whether it can be easily summarised, and if it’s written in a natural, conversational tone. Building authority and credibility in your niche will also be key, since AI tools tend to favour trustworthy, recognisable sources.
Local businesses should audit their presence across Apple’s ecosystem – not just maps and listings, but also how easily discoverable their content is in Safari and Spotlight. Finally, keep a close eye on the evolving AI landscape. Apple’s entry will not replace Google overnight, but it will add a new battleground for attention, and marketers who adapt early will be the ones best placed to benefit when World Knowledge Answers goes live.
