Perplexity Adds AI Assistant That Calls Other Apps and Performs Tasks

Artificial intelligence (AI) startup Perplexity AI has launched an assistant within its Android app.

“This marks the transition for Perplexity from an answer engine to a natively integrated assistant that can call other apps and perform basic tasks for you,” Perplexity Co-founder and CEO Aravind Srinivas said in a Thursday (Jan. 23) post on X.

The new Perplexity Assistant can help users with tasks like booking dinner, finding a forgotten song, calling a ride, drafting emails and setting reminders, Perplexity AI said in a series of posts on Threads.

“Assistant uses reasoning, search and apps to help with daily tasks ranging from simple questions to multi-app actions,” the company said in one post.

In examples shared in other posts in the thread, the company said Perplexity Assistant can find the correct date and time of an event and set a reminder; help book a table after aiding the user’s search for a restaurant; and identify what it sees through the device’s camera or on screen.

It was reported in December that Perplexity AI closed a $500 million funding round that tripled its valuation to $9 billion.

In November, the company launched an AI-powered shopping assistant in the U.S. and said it will expand it to additional markets.

Dubbed “Buy With Pro,” the shopping assistant can help shoppers both research and buy products.

Buy With Pro lets users check out on the company’s website or app for select products from select merchants; enables one-click checkout when users save their shipping and billing information to Perplexity AI’s portal and select Buy With Pro to place the order; and, if Buy With Pro is not available, directs users to the merchant’s website to complete their purchase.

“It marks a big leap forward in how we serve our users — empowering seamless native actions right from an answer,” Perplexity AI said at the time in a blog post. “Shopping online just got 10x more easy and fun.”

It was reported Saturday (Jan. 19) that Perplexity AI submitted a bid to TikTok’s China-based parent ByteDance, seeking to merge with TikTok U.S. The proposed deal would let most of ByteDance’s investors hold onto their equity stakes, while bringing more video to Perplexity.

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