AI-powered search engine Perplexity has launched an “agent” called Perplexity Assistant.
The Perplexity assistant, available on Android devices as of Thursday in the Perplexity app, can employ “multi-app actions.”
Powered by Perplexity’s search engine, Perplexity Assistant can access the web. This allows the assistant to do things like remind you of an event by finding the appropriate date and time and creating a calendar entry, Prperxity says.
Perplexity Assistant is multimodal in the sense that it can use your phone’s camera to answer questions around you or on your screen. Assistant also maintains context from one action to another, and for example, you can have Puzzle Assistant research restaurants in your area and automatically book a table, Puzzle says.
We’re excited to launch Perplexity Assistant to all Android users. This marks a puzzling transition from an answer engine to a natively integrated assistant that can call other apps and perform basic tasks. Update or install Perplexity app on PlayStore. pic.twitter.com/fsrdltvwzb
— Aravind Srinivas (@aravsrinivas) January 23, 2025
Initially, it will be free for confused users in 15 languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Korean, and Hindi.
This product sounds great in theory, but Prplexity has launched semi-baked products in the past. For example, our testing has shown that Perplexity’s shopping feature tends to be slow and error-prone because it’s designed for users to place orders without visiting the retailer’s website. got it.
Here are some examples of what Perplexity Assistant can do. I can’t wait to see how you use it.
Get it here: https://t.co/h4j9cr68so pic.twitter.com/f7ibsffrgq
— Perplexity (@perplexity_ai) January 23, 2025
Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas said in a series of posts on X that some baffling assistant actions “don’t always work,” but that this will be addressed in the coming months. For example, Srinivas said the Assistant can summarize unread emails and upcoming calendar events only if users enable a notification-based workaround.
Perplexity Assistant’s launch expands on Sonar, an API service that allows businesses and developers to build the company’s generative AI search tools into their own applications, and acquires a social media platform for professionals called Read.CV It’s been a few days since we rolled out Sonar, an API service that can do this.
Founded in 2022, Perplexity has reportedly raised over $500 million in capital from VCS and is said to be valued at $9 billion.
The puzzlement is growing rapidly. AI-powered search engines run over 100 million queries every week to power monetization efforts like advertising programs.
But the thorn in the side of the puzzle is a legitimate dispute with the publisher. News Corp’s Dow Jones and the NY Post have complained about what they call a “content kleptocracy.” Many other news sites have expressed concern that Embarrassment closely duplicates the content. Just in October, the New York Times suspended and abolished the startup.
Perplexity, which offers a revenue-sharing program to stores, says it respects publishers’ content.