The search engine industry has long been dominated by Google, with its parent company Alphabet (GOOGL) commanding nearly 90% of global search traffic. However, recent developments suggest that this dominance may be under threat.

Shares of Alphabet ( GOOGL 3.00%) ( GOOG 2.91%) sank after Apple executive Eddy Cue said that searches on Safari declined for the first time ever in April. Cue attributed the decline to people using more artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots and predicted that AI search engines will eventually replace traditional search.

Alphabet stock sank after senior Apple executive signaled that the iPhone maker was looking at search engine alternatives for its Safari web browser.