Why Perplexity built a low-key coffee shop in Seoul’s most upscale district

The AI search company positioning itself as a Google rival is testing whether a quiet cafe in Cheongdam-dong can make AI feel like a part of everyday life

Cafe Curious, Perplexity’s first offline space, opened on Sept. 3 in Seoul’s upscale Cheongdam-dong district in Gangnam-gu. (Moon Joon-hyun/The Korea Herald)

A small sidewalk sign is one of the few visible clues that Cafe Curious is operated by AI search company Perplexity. (Moon Joon-hyun/The Korea Herald)

There's almost nothing about Cafe Curious that suggests it was created by a Silicon Valley AI startup.

Located in Cheongdam-dong, one of Seoul’s most upscale neighborhoods, the space opened on Sept. 3. From the outside, it looks like just another sleek coffee shop with glass doors, dark stone walls and a small sidewalk sign. The name Curious appears modestly on the corner of the building.

But this is not a typical cafe. It's the first physical location operated by Perplexity, the generative AI company best known for its conversational web search engine. The space doubles as a coffee shop and a soft landing point for customers to interact with the company’s core product, Perplexity Pro, without being told to.

In a March 2025 YouTube advertisement, actor Lee Jung-jae uses a spoof search app called “Poogle” to answer a basic question, only to switch to Perplexity for a faster and clearer response. Cafe Curious is located on the first floor of Artist Company, the Cheongdam-based agency Lee founded and now partners with. (Screen capture from Perplexity's YouTube channel)

Just past the entrance, visitors move through a minimalist transition space filled with soft natural light, abstract stools and phrases like “Curiosity changes everything” printed on the walls and glass. (Moon Joon-hyun/The Korea Herald)

The first floor of Cafe Curious features a coffee counter and a small merchandise display near the entrance. (Moon Joon-hyun/The Korea Herald)

There is no prominent Perplexity logo, no mention of artificial intelligence, and no visible screens drawing attention.

The cafe occupies two floors of the building that also houses Artist Company, the agency founded by Korean actor Lee Jung-jae, a recent face in Perplexity’s marketing.

On the first floor, customers order coffee and browse branded merchandise. On Sunday afternoon, the cafe was quiet, with a few visitors chatting or working on laptops.

There was little to indicate that this space is part of a tech experiment.

Perplexity’s presence becomes clear only after a visitor is asked a simple question at the register: Are you a Perplexity Pro subscriber?

“About half of the visitors know it’s a Perplexity cafe when they arrive, and half don’t,” the store manager told The Korea Herald. “But we ask every customer if they’re a subscriber, because subscribers get a 50 percent discount on drinks. So even if people didn’t come here for that reason, they leave knowing about it.”

Non-subscribers are offered a QR code at the counter that links to a one-month free trial of Perplexity Pro, which gives users access to the company’s full-fledged AI search engine. After signing up, they receive the same 50 percent discount.

In the basement, a dimly lit room features a single laptop logged into Perplexity Pro, offering visitors a quiet space to test the AI search engine. (Moon Joon-hyun/The Korea Herald)

A laptop running Perplexity Pro sits in front of a wall-sized projection of the same interface, alongside coffee cups branded with the cafe’s name, Curious. (Moon Joon-hyun/The Korea Herald)

Downstairs, the basement level of the cafe presents a clearer view of the AI company’s identity. On a white circular table sits a laptop running Perplexity Pro. The screen is mirrored onto a wall projection, allowing customers to ask the AI assistant questions in real time. There are no staff guiding the process. The space encourages casual interaction and self-directed use.

“We wanted people to feel like they’re discovering something on their own,” said June Morita, general manager of Perplexity Asia Pacific, on the opening day. “It’s not about technology being front and center. It’s about making curiosity part of an ordinary experience.”

The basement lounge blends deep orange armchairs, striped walls and low lighting to create a quiet, semi-private space beside the AI demo area. (Moon Joon-hyun/The Korea Herald)

The futuristic-looking installation sits next to a softly lit lounge area, where deep armchairs, low tables and warm colors create a quiet, semi-private atmosphere.

Founded in 2022 by former engineers from OpenAI and Google DeepMind, Perplexity has grown rapidly, reaching more than 30 million monthly active users globally, according to company data cited in recent media reports.

In South Korea, usage has more than doubled since January this year, growing from about 330,000 to over 820,000 monthly active users, based on August data from local analytics firm IGAWorks Mobile Index.

Perplexity’s Curiosity Cafe truck toured New York City during Tech Week in June, offering free coffee to anyone who showed the app, with extras for Pro users. Like its Seoul cafe, the mobile pop-up was part of the company’s push to introduce AI through everyday, physical interactions. (Perplexity)

The Seoul cafe follows a short-lived coffee truck promotion in New York in June, but it's the company’s first permanent retail space. Unlike typical tech showrooms, the branding here is subdued. Even the AI-generated music playing throughout the space is easy to miss.

Perplexity says the choice to launch in Korea was strategic. High smartphone penetration, widespread use of AI-powered translation and writing tools, and strong interest in digital trends have made Korean users a key early audience.

“The goal isn’t to promote AI as something overly futuristic or intimidating,” Morita said. “It’s to integrate it into spaces where people already spend time, doing things they already enjoy.”