According to reports, SoftBank Group plans to invest in Perplexity as part of a larger investment round worth $250 million. Funding from Vision Fund 2 by Softbank will come in two parts: $10 million and $20 million. The AI-backed startup aims to compete with Google’s search engine. This essentially does two things: it fuels the AI race and demonstrates openness in a segment where Google holds dominance. If this approach proves successful, it will establish a precedent that others can follow. Therefore, it presents a significant challenge for Google to significantly innovate its search engine.
The AI startup currently holds a $3 billion valuation. This valuation is three times higher than it was prior to the announcement of the latest investment round.
It signals SoftBank’s willingness to expand its investments in the AI sector. According to a statement, the investor is just beginning and already has a significant workload. SoftBank has plans in the pipeline to accelerate the pace of AI investment, including a commitment to artificial super intelligence. Masayoshi Son, the Chief Executive Officer of SoftBank, said that they have done many things till now, but all of it has been a warm-up, adding that they want to realize the dream of ASI, or Artificial Super Intelligence.
The development comes after the AI startup announced a partnership to offer SoftBank’s Japanese wireless customers a free subscription for one year.
Perplexity has been able to distinguish itself from other AI chatbots by offering real-time information. This comes within the timeframe of two years since its inception. Perplexity has also met a fair share of criticism. Recently, a controversy surfaced when someone asked for clarification on whether the original outlet should receive due credit when the product summarizes news stories.
Perplexity’s primary service is search; however, it also calls itself an answer engine because it provides results in text format instead of links. This is where the controversy reportedly erupted.
SoftBank previously invested $200 million in a startup that analyzes medical data, Tempus AI. Moreover, SoftBank is working to invest approximately $100 billion into AI-related chips. Simply put, SoftBank has invested in AI startups and is now willing to explore the segment in depth. AI has constantly attracted attention, not just from investors but also from companies like Amazon, Google, and Microsoft.
OpenAI is a perfect example of this scenario. The ChatGPT developers are heavily backing their venture’s AI aspect. OpeAI has just launched a ChatGPT app for PCs that is based on MacOS. The GPT-4o model powers it and provides keyboard shortcut support for users seeking to initiate a conversation.
The industry has discussed a variety of uses for AI. One of them stands out: the creation of images from text. OpenAI discussed this back in 2021, and it continues to hold a central position among other functionalities that are rapidly gaining momentum.
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