The initiative comes as the tech giant faces potential disruption of its lucrative search partnership with Google, which generates approximately $20 billion annually for Apple through default search placement on its devices. Bloomberg detailed how the company's new direction contradicts recent public statements from top software and marketing executives who dismissed consumer interest in chatbot technology.

According to Bloomberg, when Apple introduced its artificial intelligence platform, it explicitly stated there would be no internally developed chatbot. The company instead partnered with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT into the Siri voice assistant, allowing users to access what Apple termed "world knowledge" without creating an in-house product.

Apple's senior software and marketing leaders have consistently argued that consumer interest in chatbots remains limited, Bloomberg noted. These executives have also rejected suggestions that the absence of such technology demonstrates Apple falling behind in artificial intelligence development. Some leaders within the company's AI division have expressed skepticism about ChatGPT-style tools entirely.

However, products like ChatGPT serve hundreds of millions of users globally, with many relying on these tools for mathematical calculations, spreadsheet work, and brainstorming sessions, Bloomberg reported. Others utilize the technology for simpler functions like search capabilities.

Apple Intelligence currently lacks search functionality, focusing instead on notification summaries, text rewriting, Genmoji image generation, and photo cleanup features, according to Bloomberg. The system will soon include message and call translation capabilities but lacks the conversational, AI-powered search experiences available through ChatGPT or Google's Gemini.

Meanwhile, Siri continues to demonstrate inconsistent performance when answering questions, Bloomberg found. While it handles basic queries adequately, it frequently transfers other requests to ChatGPT through a limited interface. Often, it directs users to generic Google web searches, which proves particularly frustrating when using screen-less devices like the HomePod.

This situation places Apple in a precarious position, as the company has never developed its own search engine, Bloomberg reported. This stems partly from Google search's superior performance, but also because Alphabet pays Apple roughly $20 billion annually to maintain default status on Apple devices.

The arrangement faces potential disruption as the US Justice Department is widely expected to force changes to the search agreement, potentially costing Apple billions in annual revenue, Bloomberg noted. During recent earnings calls, Apple's finance chief indicated that the company's services growth closely connects to the Google partnership.

Simultaneously, the search landscape undergoes rapid transformation due to generative AI, making the market more democratized, Bloomberg reported. Users increasingly turn to tools like ChatGPT for purposes extending far beyond traditional search queries. Apple's services head Eddy Cue testified in court that AI-based search represents the future, confirming that Apple explores partnerships, including with startup Perplexity, to advance toward more modern search experiences.

Despite philosophical reservations among certain Apple leaders, the company clearly moves in that direction, according to Bloomberg. Earlier this year, Apple quietly established a new team called Answers, Knowledge and Information, or AKI. This group explores various in-house AI services aimed at creating a new ChatGPT-like search experience.

The AKI team operates under Robby Walker, a senior director reporting to AI chief John Giannandrea, Bloomberg reported. Walker previously managed Siri but lost control following engineering delays. After that reorganization, he received assignment to the new Answers initiative and brought several key team members from his Siri tenure.

While still in developmental stages, the team constructs what it calls an "answer engine" – a system capable of web crawling to respond to general knowledge questions, Bloomberg found. A standalone application remains under exploration, alongside new backend infrastructure designed to power search capabilities in future versions of Siri, Spotlight, and Safari.

Apple recently began advertising job openings for the team on its careers website, stating according to Bloomberg: "Our work fuels intuitive information experiences across some of Apple's most iconic products, including Siri, Spotlight, Safari, Messages, Lookup, and more. Join us in shaping the future of how the world connects with information!"

Several job listings specifically mention experience with search algorithms and engine development, Bloomberg reported. While a finished product may remain distant, the direction appears unmistakable - something resembling a streamlined, Apple-built approach to ChatGPT-like search functionality is in development.

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Even as the United Nations seeks massive aid for the wasteful spending on Palestinians through UNRWA, it is grappling with a severe liquidity crisis that has forced it to implement cost-cutting measures, including a hiring freeze, reduced air conditioning, and earlier closing times for entry gates, according to a report by Bloomberg. The budgetary constraints have had real-world consequences, hampering the UN's ability to fulfill its mandates, such as addressing humanitarian crises and monitoring political developments in various countries. Key Security Council meetings have been cut short due to the costs associated with running them, which can reach $15,000 per session, the US outlet said. 

But this has not stopped it from acitvely seeking immense funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), notorious for its misconduct and wasteful spending on Palestinian who are not even refugees and whose staff has been complicit in the Oct. 7 attack.

The budgetary constraints have had real-world consequences, hampering the UN's ability to fulfill its mandates, such as addressing humanitarian crises and monitoring political developments in various countries. Key Security Council meetings have been cut short due to the costs associated with running them, which can reach $15,000 per session.

The UN is currently owed more than $1.7 billion by member states, with the United States and China owing a combined $1.14 billion in assessed contributions for this year alone. The financial struggles have been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic and the Trump administration's decision to cut funding for humanitarian and development efforts. "The UN's financial woes have turned into a full-blown liquidity crisis," UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres wrote in a letter to member states in January, as cited by Bloomberg.

UN officials and diplomats have expressed concerns that the situation could worsen if former President Donald Trump is re-elected in November, as he is expected to further reduce U.S. funding for the organization, according to the report.

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The foreign banks' warnings began to come true on Tuesday, with the US dollar's value went up 2% against the shekel to 3.64 in light of investors' concerns over the consequences of the judicial reform in the Israeli government. This has been the sharpest increase since last September and the biggest fluctuation that occurred compared to all other leading currencies worldwide.

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Obviously, the shekel has been weakened compared to all other currencies – 2% compared to the Euro and 2.7% to the Pound Sterling. Foreign exchange market traders said that the second the dollar reached 3.60 and passed this threshold, many stop-loss orders were triggered (closing positions at a loss), and from there, the path to 3.64 was a short one.

What caused the dollar's increase was the Knesset's passing the first reading of the judicial reform package in the plenum and Foreign Minister Eli Cohen's tweet that made its way to Bloomberg's headlines, being interpreted by foreign bodies as possible interference with the Bank of Israel's independence. The tweet was not unusual considering the times, but its timing, paired with the Knesset's provisional passage of the judicial reform, was the spark that set fire to the foreign exchange market.

Although it is only the first reading, and there is still a long way to approve all the reform bills, it is clear that the stock market, especially foreign investors, does not like the fact that there is no widespread consensus regarding the reform. The warnings voiced daily by many senior economists, international organizations, senior officials in the hi-tech industry, and, of course, the non-stop demonstrations, do not contribute to calming the situation, instead only causing alarm.

The abnormal volatility in the foreign exchange market and the sharp increase in 10-year bond yields are likely a promo for what will occur in the future. Even today, Citigroup strategists told Bloomberg that the shekel's value is expected to depreciate by another 8%, and its new target is 3.95. "Despite the 0.5% increase of the Bank of Israel's interest rates, the shekel continues to remain under pressure by local political noise," the strategists said. "It seems that the political situation will become more volatile in the coming weeks when the judicial reforms will be presented for a second reading in the plenum."

Even Peter Kisler, a manager at the "Trium Capital" hedge fund in London, said to Bloomberg in the same article, "It's the judicial reform continuing to weigh on the market. The magnitude of the currency's move has been quite large, but it can still weaken further."

When articles such as this are published in one of the biggest financial portals in the world, which is hard to blame for being left-wing or purposely wanting to harm Israel's economy, it affects the stock market. Foreign exchange traders in foreign banks read the warnings of objective senior officials and understand their message. They have no particular sentiments towards Israel, and if they are convinced that the NIS will weaken, they will continue to increase their shorts on it – like a snowball.

Suppose the USD's value continues to become stronger sharply. In that case, the consequences of the NIS's sharp devaluation are likely to be detrimental to the economy – it will first and foremost likely increase inflation in Israel that refuses to go down in the meantime, which will cause the Governor of the Bank of Israel to increase the interest rate more sharply. While the Bank of Israel has admirable foreign exchange balances amounting to over 200 billion dollars and can intervene in the foreign exchange market and sell USD, its influence is likely negligible compared to the vast amount of buyers.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's attempts today to calm the situation by making statements to the press, saying that he is not worried about the economy, will apparently not be helpful. Even Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's tweet in which he said that the Bank of Israel's independence would not be violated cannot really help here. If the government stops the legislation and changes the reform so that all parties will accept it, things may return to normal. Israel's economy is strong, and in the meantime, we have seen merely a promo of what is likely to happen later in the future.

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