According to sources, Meta was in talks to acquire Perplexity in late April or early May. Bloomberg reported that Apple also had internal discussions about acquiring Perplexity.
Apple and Meta are considered to be lagging behind in the field of AI, while rivals like Google and OpenAI are accelerating. The interest of these tech giants underscores the fierce competition for AI talent.
What is Perplexity?
Perplexity is a search engine that uses AI models to analyze web content and synthesize answers. The answers are often presented in a summary format, although Perplexity may provide links to its sources.
The company was founded in August 2022 and launched the first version of its search engine in December of the same year.
Perplexity offers two types of search modes: quick search and pro search. Quick search mode is for general queries, while pro search provides more detailed responses requiring deeper research. Perplexity's free plan allows users to perform three pro searches per day.
Perplexity was originally a tool that allowed users to interact with various AI models from different companies in a familiar format: a search engine.
But Perplexity can do more than just answer search queries. Users can also ask questions about files, ask it to handle projects (such as creating travel itineraries or music playlists), generate images, and browse curated pages based on topics of interest – similar to ChatGPT and other AI services.
However, many additional features are included in the paid plan, priced at $20 per month, and offer access to more AI models, unlimited file uploads, image creation, and other perks. Perplexity is also developing a web browser called Comet.
Perplexity is popular but faces fierce competition, particularly from OpenAI's ChatGPT. The startup is also embroiled in one of the biggest controversies surrounding AI: the use of copyrighted content.
Dow Jones and the New York Post are suing the company for using their content illegally, while the BBC is also threatening legal action.
Why do Apple and Meta want to buy Perplexity?
A deal with Perplexity seems to align with the AI ambitions of either Apple or Meta. Both companies are integrating AI into their most important products; for Apple, it's the iPhone, and for Meta, it's apps like Instagram and WhatsApp.
Apple introduced updates to existing AI tools, such as translation and custom emoji creation, at its annual developer conference in June.
The company is researching integrating an AI-powered search engine into the Safari web browser, according to Eddy Cue, Apple's senior vice president of software and services.
However, Apple still has a lot of work to do. The improved version of Siri still doesn't have a release date.
Google is currently paying Apple billions of dollars to be the default search engine in Safari, which is Google's second-most popular web browser after Chrome.
But that deal is now under intense scrutiny as part of the U.S. Department of Justice 's antitrust lawsuit, meaning Apple may have to consider alternatives.
A deal with Perplexity, if it materializes, would further boost Apple's existing apps and services while the company continues to develop Siri. The company has already partnered with OpenAI and Google for iPhone AI features.
Meanwhile, Meta has been actively trying to attract top AI talent. According to the WSJ, Meta offered salaries of up to $100 million to some individuals. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently revealed that Meta had spent $100 million trying to recruit his employees but without success.
Meta also recently made a significant investment in Scale AI, a startup that provides tools to help companies label data used to train AI models, valuing it at over $29 billion. The company hired Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang as part of the deal.
Despite achieving some success in AI – the LLama models are widely used by developers and the Ray-Ban AI glasses are relatively popular – Meta is reportedly struggling in other areas.
According to the WSJ, Facebook's parent company has postponed the launch of the next Llama model, while Meta AI raises privacy concerns by publicly disclosing users' personal queries.
Some tech giants are predicting that AI could be a leap forward on par with the internet and smartphones – two advancements that Meta and Apple have played a key role in shaping.
Whether similar innovations can be achieved in AI is crucial for the future of both, especially as this technology is expected to transform how people work, communicate, and search for information.
(According to CNN)
Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/startup-ai-3-nam-tuoi-co-gi-dac-biet-ma-lot-vao-mat-xanh-cua-meta-apple-2415304.html
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