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Maybe off-topic, but there are lots of rumors flying - will Apple acquire Perplexity?

havaloc 1y ago
Apple should acquire Perplexity - it's a pretty great product and combined with some privacy enhancements it's a win, and they could likely integrate it better than Google could with Gemini.
- criddell 1y ago
  > it's a pretty great product Is it? I was gifted a pro subscription for a year and after trying it for a few weeks I instead signed up for an Anthropic Claude subscription (which I pay $20 / month for) and I use that all the time. What am I missing about Perplexity?
  - felarof 1y ago
    +1, I bought perplexity pro annual subscription last year, and hardly use it now. chatGPT+o3 search is much better. My typical workflow is fire the question to Google AI mode and chatGPT+o3 at the same -- AI mode is fast but meh answer, chatGPT is slower but pretty good answer always.
  - Agraillo 1y ago
    As a cultural synthesizer ("create a sketch...") or translator (i.e., from human to programming) perplexity is as good as the others and maybe worse. But I like it as being an alternative semantic web search engine. Search engine because most of the time the facts are referenced at the end of the paragraphs and when it fails to insert them, I usually ask to expand. It's a new feeling after all those years of PageRank dominance. For example, It sometimes creates a paragraph with a reference to some recent research that according to the PageRank logic should be at the bottom (because almost nobody cites it). It's like the relevance was reborn. Once it was in a primitive sense of the early AltaVista, then Google killed it with PageRank, now when an engine really understands the question, the answers might become relevant in a new sense while being tangential to the reputations of the sources
  - kimos 1y ago
    I signed up and I no longer use most other websites. I only use Kagi for basic searches, where I want to get to a destination and not get information. Perplexity “does the googling for me” and summarizes or seeks for me. No more skimming and synthesizing. No more crafting search queries and comparing. Ask a question, no matter how obscure or specific, and it fetches the real time answer. Honestly not much has ever so drastically changed how I use the internet.
alwillis 1y ago
Not just Perplexity but Anthropic as well, which would my preference.
- dawnofdusk 1y ago
  Is Apple supposed to be one of the kind and benevolent megacorporations?
  - criddell 1y ago
    I would assume basic functionality would be included but advanced functionality would require a subscription to Apple One (or whatever it's called now). So I wouldn't describe them as kind and benevolent, more that they want to make products people will pay for.
  - tempest_ 1y ago
    No public company can be "benevolent" Apple still makes 10s of billions a year letting Google be the default search, they have a vested interest in maintaining that revenue. Plus whatever "values" they have will go right out the window if the golden iphone shaped Goose ever stumbles.
  - alwillis 1y ago
    To the degree that it matters, I believe Apple and Anthropic values are more in alignment than say, Apple and OpenAI.
  - alwillis 1y ago
    Plus Apple and Anthropic appear to be collaborating [1]. [1]: "Apple Partners With Anthropic for Claude-Powered AI Coding Platform" -- https://www.macrumors.com/2025/05/02/apple-anthropic-ai-coding-platform/ https://www.macrumors.com/2025/05/02/apple-anthropic-ai-codi...
- layer8 1y ago
  We do not need any more big-tech concentration than we already have, rather less.
- 1y ago
okdood64 1y ago
As I understand it they don't even make any competitive foundational models themselves? Isn't that the kind of talent Apple is after?
felarof 1y ago
Even if apple buys, would they kill Safari? I don't think so -- comet will have to die in that case.

Apple should acquire Perplexity - it's a pretty great product and combined with some privacy enhancements it's a win, and they could likely integrate it better than Google could with Gemini.

criddell 1y ago
> it's a pretty great product Is it? I was gifted a pro subscription for a year and after trying it for a few weeks I instead signed up for an Anthropic Claude subscription (which I pay $20 / month for) and I use that all the time. What am I missing about Perplexity?
- felarof 1y ago
  +1, I bought perplexity pro annual subscription last year, and hardly use it now. chatGPT+o3 search is much better. My typical workflow is fire the question to Google AI mode and chatGPT+o3 at the same -- AI mode is fast but meh answer, chatGPT is slower but pretty good answer always.
- Agraillo 1y ago
  As a cultural synthesizer ("create a sketch...") or translator (i.e., from human to programming) perplexity is as good as the others and maybe worse. But I like it as being an alternative semantic web search engine. Search engine because most of the time the facts are referenced at the end of the paragraphs and when it fails to insert them, I usually ask to expand. It's a new feeling after all those years of PageRank dominance. For example, It sometimes creates a paragraph with a reference to some recent research that according to the PageRank logic should be at the bottom (because almost nobody cites it). It's like the relevance was reborn. Once it was in a primitive sense of the early AltaVista, then Google killed it with PageRank, now when an engine really understands the question, the answers might become relevant in a new sense while being tangential to the reputations of the sources
- kimos 1y ago
  I signed up and I no longer use most other websites. I only use Kagi for basic searches, where I want to get to a destination and not get information. Perplexity “does the googling for me” and summarizes or seeks for me. No more skimming and synthesizing. No more crafting search queries and comparing. Ask a question, no matter how obscure or specific, and it fetches the real time answer. Honestly not much has ever so drastically changed how I use the internet.

alwillis 1y ago

Not just Perplexity but Anthropic as well, which would my preference.

dawnofdusk 1y ago
Is Apple supposed to be one of the kind and benevolent megacorporations?
- criddell 1y ago
  I would assume basic functionality would be included but advanced functionality would require a subscription to Apple One (or whatever it's called now). So I wouldn't describe them as kind and benevolent, more that they want to make products people will pay for.
- tempest_ 1y ago
  No public company can be "benevolent" Apple still makes 10s of billions a year letting Google be the default search, they have a vested interest in maintaining that revenue. Plus whatever "values" they have will go right out the window if the golden iphone shaped Goose ever stumbles.
- alwillis 1y ago
  To the degree that it matters, I believe Apple and Anthropic values are more in alignment than say, Apple and OpenAI.
- alwillis 1y ago
  Plus Apple and Anthropic appear to be collaborating [1]. [1]: "Apple Partners With Anthropic for Claude-Powered AI Coding Platform" -- https://www.macrumors.com/2025/05/02/apple-anthropic-ai-coding-platform/ https://www.macrumors.com/2025/05/02/apple-anthropic-ai-codi...
layer8 1y ago
We do not need any more big-tech concentration than we already have, rather less.
1y ago

okdood64 1y ago

As I understand it they don't even make any competitive foundational models themselves? Isn't that the kind of talent Apple is after?

felarof 1y ago

Even if apple buys, would they kill Safari? I don't think so -- comet will have to die in that case.