AI company Perplexity bids to merge with TikTok to avoid ban: report

Artificial intelligence (AI) company Perplexity AI has bid to merge with TikTok U.S., so the video sharing platform can avoid being banned in the country, according to a report. The bid, made to the platform’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, would merge Perplexity AI, TikTok U.S. and new capital partners and would allow most ByteDance investors to keep their equity stakes, CNBC reported, citing a source familiar with the matter. Congress passed a ban on TikTok last year that goes into effect Sunday unless Chinese-owned ByteDance sells the company. POTENTIAL TIKTOK BAN: WHAT SOCIAL MEDIA APPS ARE POPPING UP IN APP STORESThe White House has said President Biden won't enforce the ban, and President-elect Trump said he would likely call for a 90-day reprieve on the ban, which is allowed by law. Still, ByteDance on Saturday said it planned to "go dark" Sunday unless the Biden administration gives "definitive" assurance that the ban won’t be enforced. Perplexity is an AI search engine startup that launched last year. It is worth around $9 billion, CNBC reported. BIDEN WON'T ENFORCE TIKTOK BAN AFTER SIGNING LAW LAST YEARS, LEAVING FATE TO TRUMP: OFFICIALOn Friday, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the bipartisan law, citing national security risks because of its ties to China. While ByteDance has suggested it wouldn't sell TikTok, "Shark Tank" investor Kevin O'Leary told Fox News Friday he's made a $20 billion cash offer for it. READ MORE FROM FOX BUSINESS"There's a reason that Congress put this order in front of the Supreme Court. There's a reason they ruled in favor of it. It's not worth taking the risk," he said. "And, so, the obvious solution is to sell it to an American syndicate as per the order."FOX Business has reached out to Bytedance and Perplexity AI for comment.Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei FOX Business Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei FOX Business