Perplexity reportedly highlighted that the agentic use will help users automate the purchasing process.
Perplexity has also partnered with PayPal to let users transact and make purchases on the AI platform
Photo Credit: Reuters
Perplexity is reportedly gearing up to launch a new, free product next week. The company behind the answer engine platform and the Comet artificial intelligence (AI) browser is now planning to launch another product focused on agentic shopping, as per the report. The purported AI tool will follow the Buy with Pro tool, which was limited to paid subscribers. Interestingly, Perplexity's reported new venture arrives at a time when both OpenAI and Google have recently released similar tools within their chatbots.
OpenAI released its Instant Checkout tool in September, which allows users to purchase items without leaving ChatGPT. This month, Google introduced new shopping tools in Gemini and AI Mode. Perplexity might be late in offering a similar tool at scale, but its platforms have always prioritised shopping.
On the Perplexity app and website, the Buy with Pro lets paid users purchase products from within the app. The Comet browser also comes with agentic capabilities that can be used to place an order on an e-commerce website. The reported free product appears to be another such tool.
According to CNBC, the AI firm's free agentic shopping product could be launched next week in the US market. “The agentic part is the seamless purchase right from the answer. Most people want to still do their own research. They want that streamlined and simplified, and so that's the part that is agentic in this launch,” Dmitry Shevelenko, Chief Business Officer at Perplexity, told the publication.
No other details of the product or its agentic nature were disclosed. However, it should be similar to the Buy with Pro experience. Shevelenko reportedly did not comment on whether the company would earn from the transactions.
Separately, Alex Chriss, the CEO of PayPal, announced a partnership with Perplexity on Wednesday. As part of this collaboration, PayPal users will be able to search, shop, and pay for items using PayPal's payment service within Perplexity's website and app. This goes live next week. It could not be ascertained whether the free agentic shopping tool and the partnership are related or not.
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