Apple is reportedly considering acquiring Perplexity AI, a startup backed by NVIDIA, as it looks to deepen its push into artificial intelligence. According to Bloomberg, internal discussions have taken place among senior Apple executives, including mergers and acquisitions chief Adrian Perica and services head Eddy Cue, though no formal bid has been made and no direct talks have occurred with the AI firm.

The move is said to be part of Apple’s strategy to build a future AI-powered search engine and potentially integrate such capabilities into its digital assistant, Siri. Bloomberg adds that the company is also considering an alternative route, which is by partnering with the company rather than acquiring it outright. Discussions between Apple and Perplexity over potential collaboration, such as integrating the latter’s technology into Safari, have reportedly been ongoing for months.

Cue had previously confirmed under oath during Google’s ongoing antitrust trial that Apple had held talks with Perplexity, although he stopped short of revealing any concrete plans. Apple’s long-running deal with Google – reportedly worth billions to keep the latter’s search engine as the default service on iPhones – could face regulatory scrutiny, making a move toward in-house AI search a plausible fallback.

Meanwhile, Perplexity has recently gained attention as one of the most prominent AI-powered search alternatives, competing with the likes of ChatGPT. Its recent funding round was recently valued at about US$14 billion, which would make it Apple’s largest acquisition to date if a deal were to go through. The startup, however, has denied any current knowledge of acquisition talks in a response to a query by Reuters.

Apple’s purported interest in the firm aligns with its wider efforts to strengthen its position in the AI scene. The company is said to be actively hiring AI talent and is reportedly competing with Meta to recruit key figures, as well as firms such as Perplexity. As AI-driven tools become more widely adopted, Apple appears to be moving to avoid falling behind competitors that have more aggressively rolled out generative AI features.

(Source: Bloomberg / Reuters)

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