"My Own AI Assistant" Perplexity Targets Domestic and International Markets with SK Telecom (Comprehensive)

290,000 KRW 'Perplexity Pro' Free Offer
Co-development of AI Search Engine Optimized for Korea
Plan to Launch PAA Beta Version in the US Within the Year

"Who is the handsome Korean male fencer who won an Olympic gold medal?"

"It is player Oh Sang-wook. He won gold medals in both the men's individual and team fencing events at the Paris Olympics."

This was a question and answer exchanged via voice with the U.S.-based AI-powered search service 'Perplexity.' Aravind Srinivas, co-founder and CEO of Perplexity, held a joint press conference on the 4th announcing cooperation with SK Telecom and demonstrated the company's service.

SK Telecom and the U.S. unicorn company Perplexity announced plans to advance their 'AI Agent' and launch a beta version in the U.S. market within this year. The two companies held a press conference at the SKT headquarters in Seoul, stating they will lead the transformation to conversational search through AI. Aravind Srinivas, co-founder and CEO of Perplexity, is presenting the development plan. Photo by Younghan Heo younghan@

Perplexity, a U.S. unicorn company, is emerging as a 'Google challenger' startup. It searches the latest information and provides answers along with sources. Its advantage is that users do not need to open websites one by one to get the information they want, as AI saves time.

SKT CEO Yoo Young-sang said in his opening remarks, "We now aim to provide a differentiated AI search experience through technological cooperation with Perplexity," adding, "SK Telecom is currently the only official partner for Perplexity's launch in Korea, and from today, we will actively create successful collaboration cases."

"Fast and Accurate AI Search"... Free Use for SKT Customers

Srinivas, a former OpenAI employee, founded Perplexity in 2022. The company provides a generative AI-based conversational search engine service and is a unicorn (a private company valued at 1 trillion KRW). It operates in over 50 countries worldwide, handling more than 230 million search requests monthly. It also ranked first overall in a chatbot usability evaluation announced by The Wall Street Journal in May.

Visiting Korea for the first time, Srinivas explained the background of cooperation with SKT: "Perplexity usage was quite high in Korea. Koreans quickly embrace new technologies and are very curious," adding, "It will be the same during the AI revolution as it was during the mobile and internet revolutions." He further stated, "We judged SKT to be a pioneer among global telecom companies that understand the importance of AI."

He prepared a 'surprise gift' for SKT subscribers: a promotion offering free use of 'Perplexity Pro,' worth about 290,000 KRW annually, for one year. Perplexity Pro allows not only text but also image and file uploads and provides more accurate answers than the free version.

Aidot Surpasses 5 Million... Search Engine Advancement

SKT is enhancing its AI assistant 'Aidot' through cooperation with Perplexity. On the 26th of last month, SKT fully revamped Aidot, upgrading it to version 3.0 by integrating Perplexity's AI search engine alongside existing multi-LLMs such as ChatGPT, Claude, and AidotX.

The number of subscribers has grown from 3.2 million at the end of last year to over 5 million as of the end of August, receiving positive market responses.

Yu Young-sang, SKT CEO (left), and Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity, shaking hands.
[Photo by SK Telecom]

SKT and Perplexity have agreed to jointly develop an AI search engine optimized for Korea. SKT will provide Korean language data and cultural content, while Perplexity will handle fine-tuning of the search engine to advance the AI search service tailored to Korea's internet search environment and culture.

Based on analysis of customer usage patterns, volume, and feedback, SKT plans to consider monetization for features and services that customers find sufficiently valuable. CEO Yoo said, "For the time being, we will focus on expanding the user base," adding, "We are still considering the timing for monetization."

Overseas Expansion Together... Utilizing Multi-LLM Strategy

The two companies are aiming not only at the domestic market but also global expansion. Following SKT's $10 million investment in Perplexity in June, Perplexity plans to invest in SKT's Silicon Valley-based subsidiary, Global AI Platform Corporation (GAP Co.).

GAP Co. focuses on developing and promoting Personal AI Agent (PAA) businesses for the global AI market. SKT and GAP Co. are developing PAA with the goal of launching a beta version in the U.S. market within the year, with Perplexity cooperating as the search partner for PAA.

PAA is a personal assistant service that understands users and connects the most suitable services according to user intent, utilizing a multi-LLM strategy that deploys multiple large language models appropriately.

The issue of compensation for content used in AI training remains a challenge. Srinivas stated, "For the AI industry to develop, the journalism ecosystem must succeed as well," expressing a proactive stance on revenue sharing with content creators. He also mentioned ongoing joint research projects on how AI can effectively support journalism. CEO Yoo added, "Payment is necessary for areas such as copyright law."

According to global market research firm MarketsandMarkets, the conversational AI market is expected to continue growing at an average annual rate of 24.9% until 2030. It is projected to grow from $13.2 billion (approximately 17.5 trillion KRW) this year to $49.9 billion (approximately 66 trillion KRW) by 2030.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.