Perplexity Adds AI Assistant Calls to Other Apps

The beginning of artificial intelligence (AI). Confusion AI launched a helper within it Android apps.

“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 a Thursday (Jan. 23) post in X.

The new Perplexity Assistant helps 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 in Threads.

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

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

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

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

Called “Buy With Pro,” the shopping assistant helps shoppers research and purchase products.

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

“This marks a huge leap forward in how we serve our users – empowering seamless native actions right from a single response,” Perplexity AI said during a blog post. “Online shopping has become 10 times easier and more fun.”

It was reported Saturday (Jan. 19) that Perplexity AI submitted a bid to TikTok’s China-based parent ByteDance, seeks to merge with TikTok US The proposed deal would allow most of ByteDance’s investors to hold on to their equity stakes, while bringing more videos to Perplexity.