The interest from both Silicon Valley giants raises an important question: why are they eyeing a much smaller company like Perplexity?

According to Bloomberg, Apple has held early internal discussions — led by its head of mergers and acquisitions — about a possible acquisition of Perplexity AI, the AI-powered search startup founded by Aravind Srinivas. While no formal offers have been made, top Apple executives have considered multiple scenarios involving the company.

Apple is reportedly considering its most ambitious acquisition yet: AI startup Perplexity, whose AI-driven search engine and chatbot are among the leading ChatGPT alternatives with around 15 million users.