Shares of Alphabet ( GOOGL -1.02%) ( GOOG -0.92%) 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 said it continues to see growth in search volumes despite Apple flagging a threat from artificial intelligence.

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.