Investing.com — Apple Inc (NASDAQ:AAPL) has held internal discussions about a possible acquisition of Perplexity AI, a rapidly growing artificial intelligence startup known for its advanced chat platform. According to Bloomberg, the talks, which involved senior executives including head of mergers and acquisitions Adrian Perica and services chief Eddy Cue, are in the early stages and may not lead to a formal offer.
This move highlights Apple's difficulties in competing with rivals amid growing pressure to integrate artificial intelligence into its hardware and software ecosystem. In particular, Apple has faced ongoing delays in updating Siri, causing the voice assistant to lag behind competitors such as OpenAI's ChatGPT and Elon Musk's Grok.
Perplexity, recently valued at $14 billion during a funding round, could significantly accelerate Apple's ambitions in search and user interaction based on AI. This acquisition would also become the largest in Apple's history, surpassing previous deals in both scale and impact on the company's long-term strategy.
Apple's interest in Perplexity also arises against the backdrop of a reassessment of its relationship with Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL), whose search engine brings Apple about $20 billion a year as the default search engine on iPhone and other devices. This deal has attracted the attention of U.S. antitrust regulators, creating uncertainty about its future and prompting Apple to consider developing its own AI-based search engine.
According to Bloomberg, Apple has not yet approached Perplexity's management regarding a potential acquisition. Meanwhile, Meta (designated as an extremist organization and banned in the Russian Federation) Platforms (NASDAQ:META) reportedly attempted to make its own offer earlier this year but was unable to reach an agreement, instead striking a deal for $14.3 billion for a 49% stake in Scale AI, forming a team focused on creating "superintelligence."
The AI market is becoming increasingly competitive.
