Latest news with #Perplexity
Express Tribune
an hour ago
- Business
- Express Tribune
Apple mulls bid for AI startup Perplexity in search shake-up: Bloomberg report
man walks past an Apple logo outside an Apple store in Aix-en Provence, France, January 15, 2025. Photo:REUTERS Listen to article Apple executives have held internal talks about potentially bidding for artificial intelligence startup Perplexity, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The discussions are at an early stage and may not lead to an offer, the report said, adding that the tech behemoth's executives have not discussed a bid with Perplexity's management. "We have no knowledge of any current or future M&A discussions involving Perplexity," Perplexity said in response to a Reuters' request for comment. Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment. Big tech companies are doubling down on investments to enhance AI capabilities and support growing demand for AI-powered services to maintain competitive leadership in the rapidly evolving tech landscape. Bloomberg News also reported on Friday that Meta Platforms tried to buy Perplexity earlier this year. Exclusive: Apple executives have held internal discussions about potentially bidding for artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI, seeking to address the need for more AI talent and technology — Bloomberg (@business) June 20, 2025 Meta announced a $14.8 billion investment in Scale AI last week and hired Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang to lead its new superintelligence unit. Adrian Perica, Apple's head of mergers and acquisitions, has weighed the idea with services chief Eddy Cue and top AI decision-makers, as per the report. The iPhone maker reportedly plans to integrate AI-driven search capabilities - such as Perplexity AI - into its Safari browser, potentially moving away from its longstanding partnership with Alphabet's Google. Banning Google from paying companies to make it their default search engine is one of the remedies proposed by the US Department of Justice to break up its dominance in online search. NEW: Apple executives have held internal discussions about potentially bidding for artificial intelligence startup Perplexity AI, seeking to address the need for more AI talent and technology — — Mark Gurman (@markgurman) June 20, 2025 While traditional search engines such as Google still dominate global market share, AI-powered search options including Perplexity and ChatGPT are gaining prominence and seeing rising user adoption, especially among younger generations. Perplexity recently completed a funding round that valued it at $14 billion, Bloomberg News reported. A deal close to that would be Apple's largest acquisition so far. The Nvidia-backed startup provides AI search tools that deliver information summaries to users, similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini.
The Star
2 hours ago
- Business
- The Star
Apple executives held internal talks about buying Perplexity, Bloomberg News reports
FILE PHOTO: A man walks past an Apple logo outside an Apple store in Aix-en Provence, France, January 15, 2025. REUTERS/Manon Cruz/File photo (Reuters) -Apple executives have held internal talks about potentially bidding for artificial intelligence startup Perplexity, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The discussions are at an early stage and may not lead to an offer, the report said, adding that the tech behemoth's executives have not discussed a bid with Perplexity's management. "We have no knowledge of any current or future M&A discussions involving Perplexity," Perplexity said in response to a Reuters' request for comment. Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment. Big tech companies are doubling down on investments to enhance AI capabilities and support growing demand for AI-powered services to maintain competitive leadership in the rapidly evolving tech landscape. Bloomberg News also reported on Friday that Meta Platforms tried to buy Perplexity earlier this year. Meta announced a $14.8 billion investment in Scale AI last week and hired Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang to lead its new superintelligence unit. Adrian Perica, Apple's head of mergers and acquisitions, has weighed the idea with services chief Eddy Cue and top AI decision-makers, as per the report. The iPhone maker reportedly plans to integrate AI-driven search capabilities - such as Perplexity AI - into its Safari browser, potentially moving away from its longstanding partnership with Alphabet's Google. Banning Google from paying companies to make it their default search engine is one of the remedies proposed by the U.S. Department of Justice to break up its dominance in online search. While traditional search engines such as Google still dominate global market share, AI-powered search options including Perplexity and ChatGPT are gaining prominence and seeing rising user adoption, especially among younger generations. Perplexity recently completed a funding round that valued it at $14 billion, Bloomberg News reported. A deal close to that would be Apple's largest acquisition so far. The Nvidia-backed startup provides AI search tools that deliver information summaries to users, similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini. (Reporting by Niket Nishant and Harshita Mary Varghese in Bengaluru; Additional reporting by Juby Babu and Rhea Rose Abraham; Editing by Maju Samuel and Tom Hogue)
The Verge
2 hours ago
- Business
- The Verge
The BBC cracks down on AI scraping.
Posted Jun 20, 2025 at 12:01 PM UTC The BBC cracks down on AI scraping. The British broadcaster has threatened legal action against Perplexity for allegedly using BBC content to train AI, saying that the Perplexity chatbot was regurgitating its content verbatim. This is the first time that the BBC has taken action against an AI company, demanding that Perplexity cease scraping BBC content, delete copies of infringing material, and provide the broadcaster with 'financial compensation.'
Business Insider
3 hours ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Howard Marks says he used AI tool Perplexity to help write his latest memo
Howard Marks' memos are considered must-reads by many in the financial world, including Warren Buffett. Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine, helped write a chunk of his latest missive. Marks, the billionaire co-founder and co-chairman of Oaktree Capital Management, has been writing memos for 35 years and turns 80 next year. That makes it perhaps a little surprising that he's drafted in a machine as a contributor. "In a sign of the times, I'll let my new (and AI-powered) editorial assistant, Perplexity, fill you in on the background," Marks said in a Wednesday memo titled "More on Repealing the Laws of Economics." The veteran fund manager said he hadn't "changed a word" of Perplexity's output, which was "pretty close to what I would have produced in an hour or two." In support of his argument for free-market economics and less government intervention, Marks roped in the AI tool to lay out how regulations have distorted the fire insurance sector in California, resulting in widespread underinsurance. "As Perplexity notes, insurers were told they couldn't price fire policies to reflect increases in the frequency and severity of forest fires," Marks said. "Likewise, they couldn't raise prices to pass through the higher premiums their reinsurers were charging based on the increased frequency and severity." The distressed-debt investor asked whether a hypothetical insurer would cover a $5 million house with a 1% chance of burning down if the regulator only allowed it to charge $25,000 a year for a policy. "I didn't need Perplexity to tell me the insurance company faces an expected payout of $50,000 on that policy," Marks said. "The answer's simple: you don't write that policy." AI tools are divisive. Proponents hail them as productivity boosters that will free workers from mundane tasks and supercharge economic growth. Critics fear they'll stymie learning and development, erode skills, and destroy so many jobs that they cause mass unemployment. Marks may have embraced AI but he still finds value in human wisdom. In his new memo, he quoted Buffett saying the US fiscal deficit was "unsustainable" and could become "uncontrollable" during Berkshire Hathaway's annual meeting in May. The Wall Street legend also included his own colourful, incisive comments: "The behavior in Washington with regard to both the fiscal deficit and the precariousness of Social Security remind me of the tale of the guy who jumped off the 20-story building. As he passed the 10th floor, he said, 'so far, so good.'" Marks may be in his golden years and as skeptical of high-flying assets as ever, yet seems open-minded about innovations. For example, he went from dismissing bitcoin as "not real" in 2017, to trumpeting its privacy and convenience in 2021 after learning about cryptocurrencies from his son. He's clearly finding uses for AI too.
Khaleej Times
3 hours ago
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Apple executives held internal talks about buying Perplexity: Reports
Apple executives have held internal talks about potentially bidding for artificial intelligence startup Perplexity, Bloomberg News reported on Friday, citing people with knowledge of the matter. The discussions are at an early stage and may not lead to an offer, the report said, adding that the tech behemoth's executives have not discussed a bid with Perplexity's management. "We have no knowledge of any current or future MA discussions involving Perplexity," Perplexity said in response to a Reuters' request for comment. Apple did not immediately respond to a Reuters' request for comment. Big tech companies are doubling down on investments to enhance AI capabilities and support growing demand for AI-powered services to maintain competitive leadership in the rapidly evolving tech landscape. Bloomberg News also reported on Friday that Meta Platforms tried to buy Perplexity earlier this year. Meta announced a $14.8 billion investment in Scale AI last week and hired Scale AI CEO Alexandr Wang to lead its new superintelligence unit. Adrian Perica, Apple's head of mergers and acquisitions, has weighed the idea with services chief Eddy Cue and top AI decision-makers, as per the report. The iPhone maker reportedly plans to integrate AI-driven search capabilities, such as Perplexity AI, into its Safari browser, potentially moving away from its longstanding partnership with Alphabet's Google. Banning Google from paying companies to make it their default search engine is one of the remedies proposed by the US Department of Justice to break up its dominance in online search. While traditional search engines such as Google still dominate global market share, AI-powered search options including Perplexity and ChatGPT are gaining prominence and seeing rising user adoption, especially among younger generations. Perplexity recently completed a funding round that valued it at $14 billion, Bloomberg News reported. A deal close to that would be Apple's largest acquisition so far. The Nvidia-backed startup provides AI search tools that deliver information summaries to users, similar to OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini.
