- Apple might be in early talks to acquire the AI startup Perplexity.
- The acquisition would help bring in AI talent, which could help improve Apple's Intelligence.
- Other tech giants like Meta are also considering making an offer to acquire Perplexity.
Apple is having a tough time keeping up with the competition in the AI race. This could be why the company is planning to acquire Perplexity AI to help give Apple Intelligence the much-needed boost it desperately needs.
This report comes from trusted Apple reporter Mark Gurman, who shared in the Bloomberg post that Apple’s mergers and acquisitions lead, Adrian Perica, services chief Eddy Cue, and top AI leadership inside the company are in early talks to acquire Perplexity AI.
Buying Perplexity will give Apple the AI talent and an outstanding product that they desperately need right now. Plus, it could bring some necessary improvements to Apple Intelligence features, especially Siri, which turned out to be a big disappointment last year.
Perplexity recently closed its latest round of funding, where it was valued at $14 billion. If Apple does plan to acquire Perplexity, it could be its most expensive acquisition yet. Since they acquired Beats at $3 billion in 2013. Moreover, it could help Apple develop its AI search given its hardware dominance.
Having used Perplexity’s Assistant on an iPhone, I can say with confidence that Perplexity is far ahead in the game. So I don’t think it would be a bad bet on Apple’s part. But whatever Apple is planning, they must act fast. Other industry players like Meta are also eyeing the opportunity to acquire Perplexity, according to a report by The Verge.
Perplexity can also give Apple a way out of its ongoing antitrust case for paying $20 billion yearly to Google to keep it as its default search in Safari. According to the report, Apple has held multiple meetings with the Perplexity team in recent months. However, both companies have denied any comment on the topic.
