I really like perplexity. It’s now my default search. there are ways to get perplexity pro for extremely cheap. I recommend those with a passing interest try it out.
That rumor was a rumor about apple replacing its search engine. Perplexity has a home grown search engine.
Regardless i dont accept the false constraint the Apple simply must buy a foundation model or whatever that means. Perplexity's "wrapper" does a better job than chatgpt or geminiin its domain.
To allow users to query for anything? The index isn't to train and build a model, it's to behave as a search engine for their users. It would (or could) effectively replace Google for Apple users.
Imagine an updated Spotlight that would allow the user to enter any query, obtaining information from the internet, enriched with their local context/data.
LLM Siri is an entirely different concern than Apple potentially acquiring Perplexity. I view them as two wildly different initiatives.
Perplexity doesn’t have their own foundation model they just wrap existing models so what good are they? They should buy Mistral instead.