Perplexity envisions a hardware start by creating an AI-powered voice device that lets users ask questions and get answers.
“Consider building a simple hardware device, under $50, that will reliably answer your questions, voice-to-voice,” Aravind Srinivas, founder and CEO of the AI-powered search engine, said in an article on X on Monday, November 25.
“If this post gets more than 5,000 likes, it will definitely make it,” he added. Responding to his message arriving on Tuesday, Srinivas said: “Very good. LFG! »
Perplexity has emerged as a key player seeking to take on Google in the rapidly escalating race to develop AI search engines. The AI research startup was founded by an IIT Madras graduate and made a splash by raising tens of millions of dollars from Amazon co-founder Jeff Bezos and other top tech investors. plan.
However, Perplexity is currently facing multiple legal threats from major publishers like The New York Times, Dow JonesAnd Conde Nast for allegedly crawling their websites when it was not supposed to and reproducing parts of news articles verbatim.
Several leading AI startups are planning to move into hardware to redefine how users interact with AI systems and gain an edge in the fiercely competitive AI race.
Earlier this year, the company behind AI image generator Midjourney announced that it was forming a new team to work on building hardware. Recently, Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, confirmed that he was working with Jony Ive, Apple’s former design chief, on a new AI hardware project.
However, a few AI companies that have dabbled in hardware have failed and collapsed in recent months. For example, Rabbit’s AI-powered wearable gadget called R1 was supposed to replace smartphones because it could do everything much faster and better. However, months after its impressive debut at CES 2024, device sales have been disappointing due to a slow rollout of additional features.
Humane’s Ai Pin wearable has suffered a similar – if harsher – fate with reports suggesting the company is being acquired.