SK telecom expands AI presence via partnership with Perplexity

SK Telecom CEO Yoo Young-sang and Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas are presenting at the SKT-Perplexity AI partnership press conference in Seoul on the 4th. [Photo by Yonhap]

South Korean mobile carrier SK telecom Co. announced its entry into the conversational artificial intelligence (AI) search market by partnering with Perplexity, a U.S. search unicorn company.

“In the rapidly changing digital environment, AI search plays a crucial role in saving time for modern people,” SK telecom chief executive officer Ryu Young-sang said at a joint press conference with Perplexity on Wednesday in Seoul. “As Perplexity’s sole Korean partner, we will create new value that has never been seen before with our collaboration.”

Ryu noted that when meeting with big tech companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic while traveling through the United States, the Middle East, and Europe, everyone’s perspective on AI is that it is no longer a matter of choice but a survival issue.

“We all believe that over-investment is better than under-investment, and SK telecom will proceed unwaveringly with the mindset that losing ground means losing,” he said.

The event marked the duo’s first detailed discussion on the business collaboration direction following SK telecom’s $10 million investment in Perplexity in June 2024.

Perplexity co-founder Aravind Srinivas also paid his first visit to Korea to express his aspirations as SK telecom’s key technology partner. The Korean company will initially launch a trial version of its personal AI assistant (PAA) platform targeting the U.S. market, centered around its Silicon Valley-based subsidiary, Global AI Platform Corp.

The PAA is a personal assistant service designed to understand users and connect them with the most suitable functions based on their intentions, and SK telecom is currently employing a multi-engine strategy using several large language models (LLMs). Perplexity will join as a search partner for PAA, and collaborations for local marketing and sales are being sought with major global telecommunications companies in the U.S., according to SK telecom.

“The main target users are those who are less receptive to new AI technologies but can experience them more easily and affordably,” Chung Suk-geun, head of SK telecom’s global AI tech business, said.

This strategy aligns with SK telecom’s approach of providing everyday AI search services, such as movie booking and restaurant searches, through its A Dot service in Korea.

If noticeable results are achieved in the U.S., SK telecom plans to expand PAA through the Global Telco AI Alliance (GTAA), a coalition of global telecommunications companies.

Ultimately, SK telecom aims to be a bridge connecting AI service developers with general consumers, expanding both the Korean and international PAA markets, and collaborate with Perplexity to develop an optimized AI search engine to enhance the domestic A Dot service. The Korean company will also offer a one-year free promotion for Perplexity’s paid search service, Perplexity Pro, worth about 290,000 won ($217) annually, to its customers.

Meanwhile, Perplexity is considering investing in Global AI Platform. SK telecom has been rapidly increasing its investments in AI annually, with around 317 billion won allocated for AI-related equity investments in 2024 alone.

SK telecom has made cumulative equity investments amounting to 623 billion won over the past three years and has invested in companies such as Smart Global Holdings, Anthropic, and Lambda.