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Apple’s ChatGPT-Style Answer Engine: A New Direction for Siri and Safari
At Squaredtech.co, we’re closely tracking Apple’s newest AI project—and it’s a big one. Apple is quietly working on a large language model (LLM)-powered answer engine that could transform how Siri, Safari, and Spotlight respond to questions.
The company has started hiring for a specialized internal group called the Answers, Knowledge, and Information team. Its goal? Build a new system that delivers smarter answers across devices—while keeping user privacy intact.
Apple’s AI focus has intensified. This hiring wave points to something bigger than just an update to Siri. Apple isn’t just tweaking what’s already there—it’s planning a full-scale answer engine that behaves more like ChatGPT than anything currently built into iOS.
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Apple’s Hiring Wave Reveals Its AI Plans
As of now, Apple has posted over a dozen job listings for this AI initiative. The roles span across the U.S. and China and include highly technical positions like Staff Machine Learning Engineer. One key listing describes work on personal context awareness, where Siri would answer questions based on user-specific data—like emails, messages, or calendar entries—all while keeping everything on the device.
That aligns closely with Apple’s privacy-first approach. Unlike competitors who rely heavily on the cloud, Apple wants Siri to access personal context locally. That means you could ask Siri something like, “What time is my flight on Tuesday?” and it would understand by scanning your emails or text confirmations—without sending any data off your phone.
These capabilities match up with Apple Intelligence, a new set of AI features announced for iOS 18. It includes on-screen awareness and app-level actions that make Siri feel smarter in context—but it’s only the beginning.
Beyond Siri: Apple’s Long-Term AI Vision
While Apple Intelligence will ship soon, Apple’s plans extend much further. According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple is also developing a ChatGPT-style search experience, separate from Siri. Internally, the company calls it an “answer engine.”
This system would crawl the web and deliver full, conversational responses to general knowledge questions—similar to what OpenAI’s ChatGPT or Google’s Gemini offers today. Unlike traditional search, this tool would summarize and explain, not just link.
Apple may even release a standalone app based on this answer engine. That would position Apple in direct competition with OpenAI, Google, and other AI leaders—but with one major difference: Apple’s version would prioritize on-device processing and user privacy.
Despite postponing full LLM-powered Siri until at least iOS 27, Apple isn’t standing still. The company is building out the backend infrastructure now. These upgrades will eventually supercharge Siri, Safari, and Spotlight, making them more responsive, more useful, and more contextually intelligent.
At Squaredtech, we see this as a calculated move. Apple isn’t rushing to catch up—it’s quietly laying the foundation for AI tools that feel intuitive and private by default.
What to Expect in iOS 18 and Beyond
In the short term, users can expect Apple Intelligence features like:
- On-screen awareness – Siri can understand what’s on your screen when you ask a question.
- Per-app actions – Siri can take specific actions in apps, such as pulling flight details from Mail or checking reservations from Messages.
These upgrades will ship in iOS 18, but they represent only the surface of what Apple is building.
Behind the scenes, Apple is assembling the building blocks for something far bigger: a ChatGPT-like answer engine that lives across the Apple ecosystem—inside Siri, Safari, and Spotlight, possibly even inside a new app.
At Squaredtech.co, we believe this move confirms Apple’s long-term ambition to compete directly in the AI assistant space. But rather than copying existing AI tools, Apple is taking a different approach—one rooted in personal context, device-level intelligence, and strict data privacy.
Final Word from Squaredatech
Apple’s answer engine is shaping up to be a pivotal shift in how users interact with iPhones, iPads, and Macs. From smarter searches in Safari to contextual voice answers from Siri, this project could redefine the AI assistant experience across the Apple ecosystem.
While others race to release chatbots and AI tools, Apple is playing a longer game—one built on privacy, integration, and user trust. At Squaredtech, we’ll continue monitoring how this answer engine develops as Apple prepares for a smarter and more personalized AI future.
Stay tuned for more coverage as iOS 18 rolls out and Apple’s answer engine project advances toward public release.
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