Apple, AI, Perplexity, And $500 Million Spent On New Office Space In Bay Area -- June 29, 2025

From ChatGPT this date.

Updates

June 30, 2025: AAPL pops on rumor that Apple is considering partnership of some sort with Perplexity and/or OpenAI. Rumors suggests both will "insert" into Siri. Would be blow to Google. Would also make the anti-monopoly case against Google/Apple moot.

Original Post 

See this link, why this question got asked.

Perplexity AI:

Apple has been in internal talks about potentially acquiring or partnering with Perplexity AI, a San Francisco–based startup valued at around $14 billion. This move would mark a major shift in Apple’s AI strategy.

What is Perplexity AI?

• Perplexity is a conversational AI search engine and chatbot that provides real-time answers with cited sources.
• it supports multiple large language models, including its own, and had about 15 million users by mid‑2024.

Why Apple is interested:

• boost Siri & search
• Apple could integrate Perplexity’s AI capabilities directly into Siri, Spotlight, and Safari, potentially compensating for its lag behind rivals
• reduce reliance on Google With a $20 billion‑per‑year deal with Google for Safari search revenue under regulatory scrutiny, Apple needs an alternative search & AI platform
• acquire top-tier talent 
• buying Perplexity would bring in experienced engineers and researchers to accelerate Apple’s internal AI development

Where things stand:

• talks are early-stage and internal—involving top execs like Adrian Perica and Eddy Cue
• no formal offer has been made yet, and Perplexity publicly states it’s unaware of any M&A discussions

Other big players—Meta and Samsung—have also expressed interest, though talks there have stalled

Bottom Line

Apple is quietly exploring a possible acquisition of Perplexity AI to strengthen its AI and search technology—potentially its largest-ever deal. But as of now, nothing’s finalized; the discussions are still preliminary.