What happened to the new Safari
Gurman reports that several rumored features are currently in limbo, including a “World Knowledge” engine meant to compete with ChatGPT as well as tools designed to check the trustworthiness of websites and fact-check information across different sources. Apple was even looking into placing individual AI chatbots directly inside Safari and other apps like Music and Health, but those plans have been scaled back.
Safari is not the priority right now
Safari was due for an AI revamp in 2026, but now that timeline may have shifted. | Image credit — Apple
For us, the users, this might just mean that Safari might look and feel the same for a little longer. Meanwhile, competitors are launching browsers that can summarize articles or find data instantly by deeply integrating AI features. But, for now, Apple would rather deliver a digital assistant that actually works instead of a browser with a few extra bells and whistles.
First things first
While it is a bit disappointing to see Safari stagnate, this is likely for the best. After the whole AI summaries debacle last year, it’s probably a good thing Apple is taking a breath to get the technology right.
I think this is the right call. For those that use Safari (which, let’s face it, is not every Apple user), it is simply a tool to get to a website. However, Siri is something many Apple users interact with daily and is undoubtedly the Apple feature that has been criticized the most and definitely cannot afford to stay mediocre for much longer.
