The shift to AI for search has become a growing concern for Google and other traditional search engines, since chatbots such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT can both search the web and provide conversational responses to users’ queries.

While the full impact of Apple’s potential move into AI search is yet to be seen, Alphabet’s stock reaction reflects immediate investor concern over the company’s ability to maintain its search-related revenue if Apple becomes a competitor in this space. Shares of Apple also declined, falling 2%.

Apple Inc is "actively looking at" revamping the Safari web browser on its devices to focus on artificial intelligence (AI)-powered search engines, a seismic shift for the industry hastened by the potential end of a long-time partnership with Google.