Stung from the hit it took from an Apple privacy feature three years ago, Meta is reportedly looking to decrease its dependence on Google and Microsoft. The Information said on Monday that Meta is developing a search engine for its chatbot. The company also recently partnered with Reuters to help its AI answer news-related questions.

Meta has reportedly been working on indexing the web for at least eight months. The company’s goal is said to be to integrate the indexes into Meta AI, giving the chatbot an alternative to Google Search and Microsoft Bing. Meta publicly disclosed its web crawler tech this summer, only saying it was for “training AI models or improving products” without stating outright that it was building a search backend. Senior engineering manager Xueyuan Su is reportedly leading the search engine project.

The Information says the move directly results from dependence on other Big Tech companies that have “stung” the company in the past, like Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT). Meta previously said the iPhone privacy feature introduced in 2021 would cost over $10 billion in lost ad revenue. (It was so concerned about the feature it was sued for allegedly evading its rules.)

The thinking is that CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants Meta to be as autonomous as possible to avoid a repeat of that if Google or Microsoft were to cut off its access to web searches. It’s unknown if Meta currently pays either company for that access.

Engadget reached out to Meta for comment. We’ll update this story if we hear back.

The company’s AI investments appear to be paying off. Zuckerberg posted on Threads in August that Meta AI has over 185 million weekly active users and more than 400 million monthly. “Growing quickly, and we haven’t even rolled out in UK, Brazil, or EU yet,” the Facebook founder wrote. OpenAI said early this month that ChatGPT had 250 million weekly users.

Stung from the hit it took from an Apple privacy feature three years ago, Meta is reportedly looking to decrease its dependence on Google and Microsoft. The Information said on Monday that Meta is developing a search engine for its chatbot. The company also recently partnered with Reuters to help its AI answer news-related questions.

Meta has reportedly been working on indexing the web for at least eight months. The company’s goal is said to be to integrate the indexes into Meta AI, giving the chatbot an alternative to Google Search and Microsoft Bing. Meta publicly disclosed its web crawler tech this summer, only saying it was for “training AI models or improving products” without stating outright that it was building a search backend. Senior engineering manager Xueyuan Su is reportedly leading the search engine project.

The Information says the move directly results from dependence on other Big Tech companies that have “stung” the company in the past, like Apple’s App Tracking Transparency (ATT). Meta previously said the iPhone privacy feature introduced in 2021 would cost over $10 billion in lost ad revenue. (It was so concerned about the feature it was sued for allegedly evading its rules.)

The thinking is that CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants Meta to be as autonomous as possible to avoid a repeat of that if Google or Microsoft were to cut off its access to web searches. It’s unknown if Meta currently pays either company for that access.

Engadget reached out to Meta for comment. We’ll update this story if we hear back.

The company’s AI investments appear to be paying off. Zuckerberg posted on Threads in August that Meta AI has over 185 million weekly active users and more than 400 million monthly. “Growing quickly, and we haven’t even rolled out in UK, Brazil, or EU yet,” the Facebook founder wrote. OpenAI said early this month that ChatGPT had 250 million weekly users.

Apple’s new iMac is here. The 2024 model hasn’t changed much on the outside (save for new colorways), but it’s now updated with the latest Apple silicon. The new model has the same display and colorful designs as previous models, though there's a new nano-texture glass screen option that reduces glare and reflections. The M4 chip inside gives it a speed boost and a more powerful neural engine for the new Apple Intelligence features in macOS Sequoia.

Apple says the M4 inside the new iMac makes the computer 1.7 times faster for daily productivity and up to 2.1 faster for more demanding tasks (i.e. gaming and photo editing) than the M1-powered model. The latest iMac now starts with 16GB of RAM — up from the 8GB of base RAM in earlier iMacs. This can be expanded up to 24GB or 32GB. The storage options also stand pat: The base model has 256GB, with 512GB, 1TB and 2TB options available.

The M4 iMac has the same aluminum unibody design and 24-inch 4.5K Retina display found in every iMac from the past three years. However, there are fun new colors to choose from. The new iMac is available in green, yellow, orange, pink, purple and blue, as well as silver. The colors are bolder on the rear, but more muted on the front so they're less distracting. 

Apple has brought in a new 12MP Center Stage camera that includes support for Apple's Desk View feature. There's once again Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 support.

There are some key configuration differences to take note of. The base model still has only two Thunderbolt USB-C ports. For the first time, all four USB-C ports on the pricier options (with a 10-core CPU and GPU) are Thunderbolt 4-compatible. In addition, you'll only be able to upgrade to 32GB of RAM if you have the more powerful chipset and at least 512GB of storage. The nano-texture display is not available on the base model, which will support one external display, while higher-end versions can handle two.

On the sustainability front, the iMac's packaging is entirely fiber-based. This is part of Apple's plan roadmap to eliminate plastic form its packaging by next year.

Alongside the new iMac, Apple finally updated its desktop accessories to ditch the old Lightning standard. With the new Magic Keyboard, Magic Trackpad and Magic Mouse the company has switched over to USB-C. These are available in colors that match the iMac looks.

The M4 iMac will be available on November 8, starting at the same $1,299 as its predecessor. The base model has an eight-core CPU, an eight-core GPU, 16GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD. It comes with a Magic Keyboard and Magic Mouse or Magic Trackpad. More expensive configurations include a Magic Keyboard with Touch ID. Pre-orders start today.