Latest news with #AravindSrinivas
Business Times
an hour ago
- Business
- Business Times
Meta discussed buying Perplexity before investing in Scale
[LOS ANGELES] Meta Platforms held discussions with artificial intelligence (AI) search startup Perplexity AI about a possible takeover before moving ahead with a multibillion-dollar investment in Scale AI, according to sources familiar with the matter. The two companies could not come to an agreement and decided not to pursue the deal, said the sources, who asked not to be named as the details of the talks are not public. The financial terms under discussion could not be learned. Perplexity recently closed a new round of funding at a US$14 billion valuation. Meta also attempted to hire Perplexity chief executive officer Aravind Srinivas to join the social media company's new 'superintelligence' team, which is focused on building more powerful AI systems, the sources said. The talks with Meta, which have not previously been reported, highlight Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's willingness to use deals and big hires to catch up in the AI race. The talks took place before Meta finalised a US$14.3 billion investment in Scale AI that gives it a 49 per cent stake in the data-labelling startup. Meta and Perplexity did not respond to requests for comment. Founded in 2022, Perplexity has emerged as one of the most prominent startups using generative AI to rethink core Internet services. Perplexity is taking on Alphabet's Google by offering an AI tool that summarises search results, lists citations for its answers and helps users refine their queries to get the best responses. The startup is also developing an AI-powered web browser. BT in your inbox Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox. Sign Up Sign Up Frustrated with the pace of Meta's AI development, Zuckerberg is making a concerted push to poach top AI talent from across the industry with lucrative pay packages. Meta has succeeded in hiring Scale AI's former CEO Alexandr Wang, as well as top researchers from Google DeepMind and Sesame AI. Not everyone is jumping to join Meta, however. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said in a podcast this week that some on his staff had been approached by Meta with offers of US$100 million signing bonuses and even bigger compensation packages, but had declined to join the company. Meta has been in talks with former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman to recruit him to the new team, according to sources familiar with the matter. The company has also been working on hiring Daniel Gross, the CEO of Safe Superintelligence, a research lab founded by former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, the source said. Meta has also held early discussions for a computing deal in which Safe Superintelligence would use Meta's data centre infrastructure, the source said. Representatives for Safe Superintelligence did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Other Big Tech firms, including Google and have tried to establish themselves as the backbone of the AI ecosystem by providing chips and cloud computing resources to AI startups. Meta has not gone this route to date. BLOOMBERG
CNET
6 hours ago
- Business
- CNET
BBC Threatens to Sue Perplexity, Alleging 'Verbatim' Reproduction of Its Content
The BBC is threatening to sue AI search engine Perplexity for unauthorized use of its content, alleging the artificial intelligence company generates BBC's material "verbatim." In a letter to Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas, as published by The Financial Times on Friday, the BBC alleges that Perplexity's default AI model was "trained using BBC content." The BBC said it would seek an injunction unless Perplexity stopped scraping BBC content, deleted all BBC material and submitted a "a proposal for financial compensation." The BBC declined to comment but said reporting by the FT was accurate. In a statement to the FT, Perplexity said the BBC's claims are "manipulative and opportunistic" and that the broadcasting giant fundamentally doesn't understand how the technology, internet or IP law work. Perplexity also alleged that the threat of litigation shows "how far the BBC is willing to go to preserve Google's illegal monopoly for its own self-interest." A US judge ruled last year that Google violated antitrust law to bolster its search dominance. Since Perplexity is an online search engine built on top of a large language model, it can answer pretty much any question asked. This means that it needs good quality information to give users satisfying answers. The BBC alleges that since Perplexity generates answers built on BBC content, that lessens the need for readers to go to the BBC directly. There's also concern that AI companies aren't using its journalism correctly and impartially, which could damage its reputation. The BBC alleges that 17% of Perplexity search responses had major issues, and "the most common problems were factual inaccuracies, sourcing and missing context." Perplexity didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. While this is the first time the BBC has gone after an AI company, it isn't the first time Perplexity has run into issues with publishers. Outlets currently suing or threatening to sue Perplexity for copyright infringement include The Wall Street Journal along with the New York Post, Forbes and The New York Times. An investigation by Wired last year alleged that Perplexity found ways to get around blocks and scrape its content. In the midst of these complaints, Perplexity launched a revenue sharing program with publishers last year, which includes Fortune, Time, The Texas Tribute and Der Spiegel. Publishers are becoming highly defensive of their content, with AI companies seeing valuations sore on the backdrop of increasingly narrow margins in media. OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, currently has a valuation of $300 billion and Perplexity's valuation has also soared to $14 billion. Perplexity investors include SoftBank, Nvidia and Amazon and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos. This is while journalism has struggled in the online age, with ad dollars being siphoned by Google and attention shifting towards social media apps. Since 2005, 2,900 local newspapers have closed in the US, according to a study from Northwestern University. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.)
Time of India
7 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Why BBC has 'threatened' AI company led by Desi CEO
The BBC has threatened legal action against US AI search engine Perplexity in an effort to block the company from using its vast content archives to train AI models. The British national broadcaster alleges that Perplexity's AI model was trained on BBC content without permission. In a letter to Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas , seen by the Financial Times, the BBC stated it has evidence that the San Francisco-based startup's "default AI model" was "trained using BBC content." The letter outlines a clear demand: the BBC could seek an injunction unless Perplexity immediately ceases scraping all BBC content, deletes any copies of the broadcaster's material used for AI development, and provides "a proposal for financial compensation" for the alleged intellectual property infringement. This move marks the first time the publicly funded British broadcaster has directly challenged an AI company on this issue. Perplexity dismisses claims, says BBC wants to "to preserve Google's illegal monopoly" The Google rival, however, has rejected the BBC's allegations, calling the claims as "manipulative and opportunistic," asserting that the BBC has "a fundamental misunderstanding of technology, the internet and intellectual property law." Perplexity further contended that the BBC's actions were an attempt "to preserve Google's illegal monopoly for its own self-interest." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like USDJPY đang đi lên không? IC Markets Đăng ký It's important to note that Perplexity itself does not build or train foundational AI models. Instead, it provides an interface allowing users to choose between models developed by other major players, including OpenAI, Google and Anthropic. A source close to Perplexity indicated that its in-house model is derived from Meta's Llama and is refined to enhance accuracy and reduce "hallucinations," where AI models generate false information. World Music Day 2025: Tech That Changed How We Listen to Music
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Why Apple Must Buy Perplexity
Tim Cook ought to call Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas and offer him $30 billion for his AI search engine. And he should do it right away. Apple buying Perplexity is such an obviously good deal for both companies that I feel silly even writing it down. Apple would get a bonafide AI service it could plug right into Safari and Siri that would revamp its disappointing AI offering. Perplexity would get access to the 2 billion+ Apple devices in circulation and become an AI force on par with ChatGPT. 'Not likely!' Perplexity chief business officer Dmitry Shevelenko told me of a potential tie-up with Apple. 'But Meta-Scale is so unlikely that I feel we aren't living in a world of likelies.' Apple and Perplexity have had no M&A discussions to date, Shevelenko added, not even a wink. But that should change. As an AI search engine, Perplexity could slot in neatly across Apple's product portfolio. It could integrate into Siri with a seamlessness that only comes via ownership. Apple values control of its product experience, and having its designers work alongside Perplexity's engineers could help it shape exactly how its AI answers show up in the assistant. Perplexity also has an AI voice mode that could surprise and delight users, and perhaps supplant Siri one day. And many Apple customers who haven't used AI yet could experience its power for the first time through Perplexity's search, image generator, and Deep Research. There's urgency to get a deal done right away. Apple's search partner, Google, is at risk of losing its ability to pay Apple for the default search position on Safari, a deal worth billions of dollars per year. If Apple acts now, it could start integrating Perplexity into its products and figure out how to make money from the service before it's too late. Waiting and scrambling only if the ruling goes through could lead to years of setbacks. And Perplexity's price will likely go up if a court ruling prevents Google from paying Apple. Perplexity is also wrapping up a $500 fundraising round at a very manageable $14 billion valuation. If Apple doubled that amount in a purchase offer, Perplexity would have to take it. And Apple has the money. The company did a $110 billion share buyback last year and announced a $100 billion buyback this year. Apple's slow AI start is a strategic crisis. There will never be a better time to use its cash. Spending $30 billion on a legitimate AI player is vastly better than standing still. The market would likely celebrate it, even if it means a smaller buyback. Growth stocks get growth multiples. Adding to the import of getting this done now, Perplexity has a deepening partnership with Samsung that could be hard to dissolve with time. Currently, the companies are offering Perplexity Pro for free to all Samsung users. But they're in talks for a deeper partnership that would include preloading Perplexity onto Samsung devices and integrating it into Samsung's browser. Apple swooping in and taking Perplexity off the table would be ruthless, but also a sign it knows the stakes of this AI moment and isn't messing around. The acquisition might get the attention of antitrust regulators, but consider this: Apple has practically no share in the search market since it's effectively outsourced it Google. And Perplexity is still tiny compared to the incumbents. It would be exceptionally difficult to argue the deal helps illegally maintain a search monopoly. It would likely sail through approvals. Even at its small size, Perplexity is showing good momentum. Srinivas recently said the company is seeing 20% month-over-month growth in search queries and handled 780 million queries in May. That's minuscule compared to Google's 5 trillion searches per year, but there's plenty of room to grow. And Perplexity's AI search product is largely beloved by its users. This would be the biggest acquisition in Apple's history (by far), potentially 10X its $3 billion Beats purchase. But the fit, urgency, and potential make the move necessary at a time when Apple needs to do something bold in AI, especially as its in-house team struggles to ship. Tim, if you're reading this, close your mail app and get on the phone with Perplexity right away. This article is from Big Technology, a newsletter by Alex Kantrowitz. The post Why Apple Must Buy Perplexity appeared first on TheWrap. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Time of India
12 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
BBC threatens legal action against AI startup Perplexity over content scraping: Report
UK broadcaster BBC is threatening legal action ag ai nst AI search engine Perplexity accusing the startup of training its "default AI model" using BBC content, the Financial Times reported on Friday. In a letter to Perplexity Chief Executive Aravind Srinivas seen by the FT, BBC said it may seek an injunction unless the AI firm stops scraping its content, deletes existing copies used to train its AI systems, and submits "a proposal for financial compensation" for the alleged misuse of its intellectual property. Perplexity called BBC's claims "manipulative and opportunistic" in a statement to the FT, adding that BBC had "a fundamental misunderstanding of technology, the internet and intellectual property law." Perplexity and BBC did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Since ChatGPT's introduction publishers have raised alarms about chatbots that comb the internet to find information and create paragraph summaries for users. Perplexity has faced accusations from media organizations including Forbes and Wired for plagiarizing their content, but has since launched a revenue-sharing program to address publisher concerns. In October, the New York Times sent Perplexity a "cease and desist" notice demanding the company stop using the newspaper's content for generative AI purposes.
