Perplexity AI Partners with Motorola to Integrate AI Assistant in Smartphones

Perplexity AI enters the smartphone market with Motorola partnership

Perplexity AI is getting in on the smartphone game. The startup on Thursday announced a partnership to bring its artificial intelligence search engine technology directly into Motorola smartphones. As part of the integration, Perplexity's AI capabilities will be included in Motorola's suite of "Moto AI" features. That makes the Razr-maker the first smartphone brand to integrate Perplexity directly into a device. Motorola is also partnering with Microsoft Copilot, Google's Gemini and Meta for certain queries. "'Search shouldn't be about endless links and ads -- it should give the user directly what they want, and we think the best way to do that is through an answer engine," Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas said onstage Wednesday at an event in New York. "Your phone is now an answer machine, personal assistant and a research agent." Perplexity's integration with Motorola follows OpenAI's high-profile Apple partnership, introduced in December. When Apple users ask Siri complex questions, it triggers the ChatGPT integration, where Siri asks for the user's permission to access ChatGPT to answer the query. The Perplexity-Motorola integration is a distribution partnership, meaning it's about Perplexity gaining users rather than revenue, Srinivas told CNBC in an interview. "We're not making money off their sales or anything like that," he said. "We're looking for usage, and they're looking for introducing amazing new, cool features, so it's like a win-win for both of us." Motorola users will all receive three months free of Perplexity Pro, including the company's Deep Research feature. That will give Perplexity insight into how people that aren't part of its typical audience use the technology -- whether it's for simple alarms and reminders or more complex tasks, Srinivas said. Perplexity and Motorola's partnership comes after a year of AI-specific devices, such as Humane's AI Pin and the Rabbit r1, have either failed or launched to underwhelming reviews. Investors are eyeing smartphone-AI partnerships as a way for the technology to make it into the hands of consumers on the go every day. And some AI startups are reportedly doing the same thing -- namely, Sam Altman's partnership with Apple designer Jony Ive to reportedly make AI devices including a "screenless phone." "Fifteen years ago, smartphones changed everything," Nicole Hagen, Motorola's head of product marketing, said onstage Wednesday. "Now, we are standing at the edge of a major shift, once again, in technology." Perplexity is prioritizing a smartphone integration because it's "the biggest touch point or access point for a consumer company to be part of," Srinivas said. He added that making the tool native to a smartphone, rather than an app you have to consciously choose to use, makes it easier to get users into the habit of turning to AI for day-to-day tasks. It's also a good way to break into the weekend user market, Srinivas said. "Nobody uses AI on the weekends," he said. "You can only achieve dialog of ubiquitous usage if you're deeply ingrained in smartphones on a day-to-day basis." Perplexity's AI search engine competes against the likes of Google and Microsoft-backed OpenAI. The company started 2024 with a roughly $500 million valuation and ended it with a valuation of about $9 billion, after attracting increasing investor interest amid the generative AI boom -- as well as controversy over plagiarism accusations. Perplexity had just under $100 million in annual recurring revenue, a source familiar with the situation told CNBC in March. AI-assisted search has been viewed by investors as one of Google's key risks, as it potentially changes the way consumers access information online. Last year, OpenAI, which started the generative AI craze in late 2022 with ChatGPT, introduced a search engine called SearchGPT. Google last year also launched "AI Overviews" in search, allowing users to see a quick summary of answers at the top of results. Perplexity is still in talks to raise between $500 million and $1 billion in funding at an $18 billion post-money valuation, sources familiar with the situation have told CNBC.

Perplexity will be pre-installed on Motorola phones, starting with Razr

A new partnership between Perplexity and Motorola will see the AI "answer engine" app pre-installed on Android phones, starting with the new Razr phones. In a first, Motorola and Perplexity have reached an agreement which will see Perplexity pre-installed on Motorola smartphones. The Perplexity app for Android supports being a default assistant, but Gemini remains the default on Motorola devices. Perplexity will be "optimized" for Motorola phones as well, and will support the outer display on Razr devices. This new partnership begins on the Razr (2025), Razr+ (2025), and Razr Ultra, but it should extend to other Motorola devices in the future. The company tells us that it will make the Perplexity app available to "as many" users "as possible," though it may not be all of the company's smartphones. While Perplexity is seeing prominent placement on Motorola devices, it's not the only AI brand Motorola has partnered with. As mentioned, there's still a partnership with Google around Gemini, but Motorola is also working with Meta as a part of its Moto AI suite. Android VP and GM Seang Chau congratulated Perplexity on the launch yesterday, but pushed back against the idea that Google was stopping "Motorola from installing Perplexity or anyone else as the assistant on their device."

Motorola Brings Four New Features to Moto AI; Partners These Major Firms

Select Motorola phones will get a free Google One AI Premium subscription Motorola announced major upgrades for Moto AI, the company's in-house artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot. Announced on Thursday, the Lenovo-owned brand is adding four new AI features to Moto AI -- Next Move, Playlist Studio, Image Studio and Look and Talk. Additionally, the company is also partnering with major AI players such as Google, Meta, Microsoft, and Perplexity to integrate their offerings into Moto AI. The integration also includes a free three-month trial of Perplexity Pro and Google One AI Premium subscriptions for eligible devices. In a newsroom post, Motorola said that it is expanding the use case of Moto AI, which was released as an open beta programme in December 2024 for select devices, as well as shipping it to more users. The chatbot still remains in beta. Moto AI is currently available on the latest generation of Razr and Edge devices. The company claimed that thousands of users participated in testing Moto AI and its existing features -- Catch Me Up, Pay Attention, and Remember this. However, it also received feedback that users wanted "more guidance on matching the right features with the right moments." Based on the feedback, it is now refining existing features and adding new experiences. Next Move is one of the new features eligible Moto AI users will see on their device. It will show users personalised recommendations based on the content on their screen. The company says the AI feature will suggest next step suggestions for them to explore and help them learn more about what AI can do for them, and adapt to it. Playlist Studio, another new introduction, uses on-screen content or a user prompt inside the Moto AI app to curate a playlist for users. The company says users can ask the chatbot to make the playlist highly specific. For instance, users can ask Moto AI to create a "Pizza night Y2K jams" playlist and get a list of curated songs. Moto AI is also adding a new Image Studio feature. It is a text-to-image generator that can create images, avatars, stickers, and wallpapers. Moto AI will also let users share visual content with messaging apps and social media. Look and Talk is currently only available to the Moto Razr 60 Ultra (Razr Ultra in the US). Even when the foldable smartphone is in stand or tent mode, users can look at the screen and get immediate assistance from Moto AI. Users can also communicate with the chatbot via voice and receive verbal responses. Motorola is partnering with Google to integrate Gemini and Gemini Live into its devices. Razr series smartphones will also let users access the chatbot from the external display. Apart from this, the company is offering a three-month trial of the Google One AI Premium plan, which includes access to Gemini Advanced, Gemini in Workspace platforms, and 2TB of cloud storage. The free subscription will be offered to those who purchase one of the eligible devices. These include the Motorola Razr 60 series, Razr 50 series, Razr 40, Edge 60 series, and Edge 50 series. The company is also partnering with Meta to make its Smart Connect app available on the Meta Horizon Store. This allows Meta Quest users to check their messages, favourite apps, and more right from the mixed reality headset. Microsoft's Copilot is also being integrated with the Motorola Razr Ultra and the Edge 60 Pro. With this, users can access the Copilot chatbot directly via Moto AI. Finally, the Lenovo-owned company is also integrating Perplexity's AI search engine within Moto AI. When users make web search-based queries, the chatbot will show the "Explore with Perplexity" option. If they select it, the company's AI search will generate a comprehensive response. In addition, all Motorola devices launched after March 3 will offer a three-month trial of the Perplexity Pro subscription. This offer will only be available to new Perplexity Pro subscribers.

Your Next Motorola Phone Could Come with a Free Perplexity Pro Subscription

This partnership aims to offer deeper integration of AI features in Motorola smartphones. Just recently, we tested Perplexity's AI assistant on iPhones, and shared our experience using it over Siri. Now we are learning that Perplexity has an official smartphone partner to showcase the prowess of its artificial intelligence search engine technology, and it is none other than Motorola. Perplexity recently shared a post on X, announcing their partnership with the Chinese phone maker. The company also shared a blog post, fleshing out the details. They mentioned, "Starting with the new generation of Motorola devices, Perplexity will be pre-installed on millions of smartphones worldwide, giving Motorola users direct access to our answer engine and assistant". Perplexity will become part of Moto AI's suite of features. Motorola's flagship Razr devices will be the first ones to enjoy this experience. The benefits of this partnership will offer deeper integration of the AI. This will allow users to access the Perplexity assistant right from the cover screen when it's closed. You can even ask it to carry out tasks like "send emails, set smart reminders, play media, request rides, and book restaurant reservations". It will also offer owners of the new Moto Razr and Edge 60 a 3-month free subscription to Perplexity Pro. This move seems to come as a result of OpenAI's partnership with Apple and Gemini's integration in Samsung Galaxy smartphones. However, this isn't the first time we are witnessing Perplexity Pro bundled with a phone. Something similar happened last year when users could claim a year's free subscription with the purchase of a Nothing Phone (2a).

Perplexity Integrates AI Assistant and Answer Engine With Motorola Phones | PYMNTS.com

Perplexity AI said Thursday (April 24) that it has partnered with Motorola in what is "one of our first and most comprehensive integrations with a mobile phone brand." The artificial intelligence (AI) startup's answer engine and assistant will be preinstalled on the new generation of Motorola smartphones worldwide, Perplexity AI said in a Thursday blog post. Beyond being preinstalled so users don't have to download it, this integration will enable Perplexity's products to operate on Razr devices' external display when the devices are folded shut; allow Perplexity Assistant to perform tasks beyond information retrieval, such as booking restaurant reservations; provide direct access through Moto AI by typing "Ask Perplexity"; and explore content with Perplexity's Related Questions, according to the post. This collaboration will expand Perplexity's reach by bringing its search and assistant capabilities to millions of new users, per the post. "It also fundamentally changes the relationship between you and your device," the post said. "Your phone is now a personal assistant, answer machine and research assistant all in one, available to you on demand, 24/7." Motorola said in a Thursday press release that the integration of Perplexity's AI-enhanced search will provide powerful capabilities. "Whether users are viewing upcoming concert dates or researching their next vacation destination, moto ai offers them the choice to 'Explore with Perplexity,'" the release said. "When doing so, they can dive even deeper into a topic, using Perplexity's powerful search functionalities to connect the dots." Motorola said the new generation of its smartphones also includes integrated AI features from Google, Meta and Microsoft, in addition to Perplexity, providing users "choice in their preferred agent." A Google executive told a court Tuesday (April 22), during the company's antitrust trial, that soon-to-be-released Motorola phones would feature an assortment of AI apps, including those from Perplexity AI, Microsoft and Google. He shared this news to support Google's claims that there are options available to customers. It was reported April 16 that Perplexity was working on partnerships with both Motorola and Samsung, aiming to add its AI assistants to the companies' devices. In December, it was reported that Perplexity closed a $500 million funding round that tripled its valuation to $9 billion.