Before investing billions in Scale AI, Facebook-parent Meta talked to Perplexity; ‘two versions’ of why the talks failed - The Times of India

Facebook-parent

Meta

considered acquiring

Perplexity AI

before its multi-billion-dollar investment in

Scale AI

, a report claims. This development comes as Apple is also reportedly pursuing an acquisition of the AI startup led by Desi CEO

Aravind Srinivas

. According to a report by CNBC, sources familiar with the confidential negotiations, who requested anonymity, stated that a deal between Meta and Perplexity AI was never finalised. One individual noted the discussions were "mutually dissolved," while another indicated that Perplexity chose to walk away from the potential acquisition. Meta’s move to acquire Perplexity comes amidst its CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s continued push to advance the company’s AI capabilities as competition from OpenAI and Google-parent Alphabet grows.

How Meta is pushing harder to lead the AI race

As per the CNBC report, Zuckerberg is increasingly concerned that competitors are ahead in both core AI models and consumer apps, prompting Meta to pursue top

AI talent

aggressively.Following a multibillion-dollar investment, Meta now holds a 49% stake in Scale AI, though it has no voting rights. As part of the deal, Scale AI founder Alexandr Wang and a few team members will join Meta.

Earlier this year, Meta also attempted to acquire

Safe Superintelligence

, reportedly valued at $32 billion during an April funding round. Daniel Gross, the CEO of Safe Superintelligence, and former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman will now contribute to Meta’s AI projects under Wang. Gross and Friedman also run a venture capital firm, NFDG, in which Meta is expected to acquire a stake as well.Recently, at the “Uncapped” podcast, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman revealed that Meta had tried to poach OpenAI staff by offering signing bonuses up to $100 million, with even higher annual compensation packages.“I’ve heard that Meta thinks of us as their biggest competitor. Their current AI efforts have not worked as well as they have hoped, and I respect being aggressive and continuing to try new things,” Altman said on the podcast.