Snap Says $400 Million Perplexity Deal Is First Step in Building Out Its AI Platform

Perplexity will pay Snap $400 million over one year to integrate its artificial intelligence-powered answer engine into Snapchat.

This integration marks the first integration of an external AI partner directly into Snapchat as well as the first step in Snap’s effort to make the app a platform where AI companies can connect with its 943 million monthly active users, Snap said in a Wednesday (Nov. 5) press release.

“This partnership reflects our shared vision for the power of AI to enhance discovery and connection on Snapchat, and we look forward to collaborating with more innovative partners in the future,” Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said in the release.

In an earnings release issued Wednesday, Snap said this partnership is one of the ways in which the company is working to accelerate and diversify its revenue growth.

“We took an important step toward building out our AI platform by partnering with Perplexity AI to integrate its conversational search directly into Snapchat,” the earnings release said.

During Snap’s earnings call, which was held Wednesday, Spiegel said he believe that Snap has “a really unique opportunity ahead to help distribute AI agents through our chat interface.”

“We’re really excited about the Perplexity partnership,” Spiegel said. “I think it sort of underscores Snapchat’s role as a messaging service and how valuable that is in the age of AI, especially because Snapchat engagement is built around real relationships between friends and family, but also because conversational assistance is very quickly becoming the primary way that people are choosing to interact with information on the internet.”

Perplexity will begin appearing in Snapchat in early 2026, according to the press release announcing the integration. It will allow the app’s users to ask questions and get conversational answers drawn from verifiable sources, the release said.

“Perplexity’s mission is to support the world’s curiosity,” Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas said in the release. “Millions of people connect and discover the world through Snapchat. By bringing Perplexity to Snapchat, we’re able to serve that curiosity directly where it occurs.”

In a Wednesday post on X, Srinivas said: “Perplexity will be the default AI for all Snapchat users in the Snapchat app from January 2026. Excited to work together with Evan and Snap team on many more projects.”

The Snap account said in a Wednesday post on X announcing the integration: “AI that feels more personal, social and fun!”

Snapchat users will still be able to chat with the app’s existing My AI chatbot, according to Snap’s press release.

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