South Korean telco SK Telecom reported today that it will invest US$10 million in US-based generative AI search engine startup Perplexity.
The two companies will collaborate to develop further Perplexity’s GenAI search engine stage, which is endeavoring to disrupt Google’s authority over the industry.
Founded in 2022, Perplexity AI is an AI-powered search engine that provides coordinated answers to questions by analyzing data from the web rather than just posting websites. It searches the web in real-time rather than being prepared on a settled dataset (such as Chat GPT), so its answers are more up-to-date. It currently forms over 230 million search demands each month.
Perplexity and SK Telecom first signed a vital participation agreement at MWC Barcelona in February. Here, the companies agreed that SKT supporters might utilize the paid version of Perplexity for free, and the company might utilize Perplexity’s models to build individual AI assistant products with access to real-time data.
SK Telecom will give Perplexity with Korean-language data and other content to help improve its large language model. SK Telecom invests US$10M in innovative technologies to enhance development.
“Both companies share a vision to provide the best AI services to enhance our lives. We are energized around this organization and are satisfied to have the opportunity to give Perplexity Pro services to SKT customers,” said Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity’s Chief Business Officer.
“Through this investment participation with Perplexity, we have secured worldwide competitiveness in the AI search engine market,” said Lee Jae-shin, SKT’s Vice President of AI Growth Strategy.
“Based on the close participation between the two companies, we will fortify A.’s search capabilities and arrange to launch the highest level AI personal assistant service at home and abroad,” he continued.
As part of the agreement, Perplexity AI will also contribute to SK Telecom’s Global AI Platform Corporation, which was established last year.
SK Telecom has been tremendously vocal in the last two years about its objective of becoming a world pioneer in AI. The company’s Chief Financial Officer, Kim Jin Won, has said that the company is “stepping up endeavors on all fronts to change itself into an AI company,” including launching various activities and making different strategic ventures in AI startups.
To this end, last year, SK Telecom formed a Global Telco Alliance with e&, Deutsche Telecom, and Singtel to collaborate on using AI in the telecoms segment and create new client and business opportunities.