Perplexity, the AI-powered search engine, desires to get into hardware – someway.
Aravind Srinivas, Founder and CEO of Perplexity, posted on He promised that Perplexity would “definitely” sell such a tool if the post received greater than 5,000 likes.
It did. “Alright. LFG!”, Srinivas replied.
In order. LFG! https://t.co/hMw3eugb0l
– Aravind Srinivas (@AravSrinivas) November 26, 2024
Hardware is becoming an obsession amongst high-profile AI startups – partly due to its high profile, but additionally because recent AI-focused form aspects have the potential to enable recent kinds of interactions. Art generator Midjourney launched a hardware team in August, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman recently confirmed that he’s working with former Apple design chief Jony Ive on an AI hardware project.
But hardware is tough.
Rabbit's R1, perhaps probably the most successful AI devices of recent years, is offered in abundance with huge discounts on eBay. Rabbit says it sold around 130,000 units as of June, however the startup has been slow to implement lots of the features it announced before launching the R1.
Other AI device projects have crashed and crashed – Humane being essentially the most extreme example. The startup promoted its Ai Pin, a futuristic wearable device, as a form of smartphone substitute. But reviews were terrible, sales were weak and issues of safety forced Humane out of business Problem callbacks. Humane was soon searching for a buyer.
Meanwhile, Perplexity has a variety of money within the bank – and is claimed to be near raising around half a billion dollars. This is an ingredient for hardware success. But if history is anything to go by, a variety of other things need to go right if the corporate desires to be a hit (or at the least avoid a dud).
