Alphabet Slides 8% as Apple Explores AI Search With Perplexity and Anthropic

Apple is in talks to embed an AI-powered search tool into Safari, sending Alphabet shares down about 8%, according to Yahoo Finance. At Google’s antitrust trial, Apple executive Eddy Cue revealed interest in Perplexity AI and noted discussions with Anthropic and OpenAI, according to The Wall Street Journal. Safari search queries fell in April for the first time in 20 years, threatening Apple’s reported $20 billion annual payout from Google for default placement. That money has funded engineers and product development across iOS. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said he still expects to finalize a deal to bring Google’s Gemini AI to iPhones later this year, but the rise of generative AI may be shifting the landscape.