Perplexity, the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered search engine, has just launched its own voice assistant. Integrated into the startup's iOS app, the assistant can answer all your questions, find restaurants in a city, organize reservations, remind you of important events, or write emails to your place.
As Perplexity states in the announcement published on X, "the voice assistant uses web browsing and can interact with several applications to book services, send emails or calendar invitations, play multimedia content, and much more - directly from the application".
A very effective voice assistant
The voice assistant can indeed use several applications installed on the iPhone to respond to user requests. For example, it can open the Mail application to drag the email written You can use Perplexity's voice assistant or Apple Music to play the music you're looking for. You can also search for a video on YouTube. Everything happens exclusively within the app. You can't launch Apple Music with Perplexity on a HomePod, for example, or play music directly in the music streaming app.
We briefly tested Perplexity's voice assistant on our iPhone to see if it lives up to its promises. With the assistant's help, we wrote an email to a friend, which we then sent with a single tap. Next, we asked the AI to book us a table at a restaurant. To finalize the reservation, Perplexity takes us to a page on OpenTable. Everything happens at lightning speed, just like in the presentation video. We noticed that Perplexity understood all our requests very well. In addition, the AI is able to interact with many Apple applications, including Reminders and Apple Maps. This is a nice surprise.
Perplexity tackles Apple and its delayed Siri
With its voice assistant, Perplexity openly mocks Apple, currently shaken by the delay of the new version of Siri. Now expected sometime this fall, the new Siri boosted with Generative AI must be able to use user data and apps installed on the iPhone to respond to requests. This is partly what Perplexity offers with its voice assistant.
Ahead of the launch of the voice assistant, Aravind Srivinas, CEO of Perplexity, had hinted that the startup planned to "create a version of Siri that works well on simple tasks." In fact, the CEO proposed launching the Siri that Apple hasn't been able to create yet. Obviously, Perplexity cannot truly replace Siri. Unlike Unlike Apple's assistant, it isn't integrated into the foundations of the operating system, which limits its scope of action. For example, it can't send a message to a contact. Unsurprisingly, Apple doesn't allow third-party companies to replace Siri with their own solutions.
Note that Perplexity's presentation video even contains a small reference to Siri. In the video, the user asks the assistant to remind them of the start of the next WWDC, Apple's annual conference dedicated to its new software features. At the last edition, Apple spoke at length about the new Siri, which was supposed to propel the iPhone into the world of AI a few months later. Faced with technical constraints, Apple ended up postponing the release of its improved assistant, provoking the anger of users and the mockery of competitors. The mention of WWDC is an obvious swipe at Apple.
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