SK Telecom partners with Perplexity on AI search engine

The partnership would allow SK Telecom’s subscribers to use the paid version of Perplexity for free, and for SK Telecom to access Perplexity’s proprietary models to build personal AI assistant products with access to real-time information

SK Telecom, South Korea’s biggest telco, is partnering with U.S. AI startup Perplexity to offer the AI-based search engine to its users as an alternative to Google and Naver, the companies told Reuters.

The partnership would allow subscribers of SK Telecom to use the paid version of Perplexity for free, and for SK Telecom to access Perplexity’s proprietary models to build personal AI assistant products with access to real-time information, the firms added.

The details about the partnership, including timing of the rollout of Perplexity Pro version to SKT users, still needs to be worked out, SKT’s investment team stated in an interview.

The partnership could expand financially as SK Telecom did not rule out possibilities to invest or form JVs with Perplexity, they further said.

It is a win-win situation because SK Telecom is giving more value-add to their subscribers and we are getting access to their subscribers through their distribution channels, Perplexity Chief Executive Officer Aravind Srinivas said in an interview.

A Google search challenger, Perplexity AI uses generative artificial intelligence models to answer user inquiries while providing sources of information. It raised $73.6 million from investors including Nvidia and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos last month. The round was led by VC firm IVP and valued the company at around $520 million.

California (U.S.)-based Perplexity’s website and mobile web had 45.6 million visits in December, per Similarweb data. It offers a free version as well as paid version that charges users $20 a month for unlimited searches.

SK Telecom has been working with Silicon Valley startups to access frontier technology and explore using generative artificial intelligence. In 2023, it announced a $100 million investment in U.S. AI model maker Anthropic to jointly develop a large language model for the telecom industry.

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