A nearly 3-year-old AI startup has reportedly caught the attention of two of the largest and most influential tech companies, underscoring the fierce competition for AI talent and push to become leaders in what some believe will be the next major evolution of the internet.

Apple Inc.’s stock has had a rough go of it during the first half of the year. President Trump’s tariffs caused have weighed on the company, as investors continue to gauge what the full cost to its business will be.

What Apple truly lacks is a competent foundational AI model that works locally on its devices rather than one that means sending oodles of data to and from an expensive cloud. Aside from the benefit of having more people working on it, buying Perplexity wouldn’t get Apple much closer to that desire.