Telefonica’s venture capital arm Wayra invested an undisclosed sum into AI start-up Perplexity and struck a partnership with the US company to deploy its generative AI (genAI) offering within operations to boost customer offerings.

In a statement, Telefonica described Perplexity as “a company with a differentiated proposition that will revolutionise the way users find information on the internet”, explaining the start-up’s genAI service improves accuracy and relevance.

The companies plan to offer “preferential benefits” for Telefonica’s customers in Spain, Brazil and UK through the deal, with potential to expand to other countries.

Telefonica also launched an AI assistant feature powered by Perplexity for the premium tier of its pay-TV service Movistar Plus.

Subscribers with an Ultra HD box will be able to “ask questions on any topic” using the compatible voice remote and receive textual and spoken answers in real time. The companies billed this as the “world’s first Perplexity experience through television”.

Similarly, Japanese operator Softbank has deployed Perplexity’s AI platform and offers customers a subscription-based service.

Wayra’s investment in Perplexity places Telefonica alongside other high-profile industry investors including Nvidia, SK Telecom and Jeff Bezos.

“The investment in Perplexity is part of one of the new keys of Wayra’s investment strategy in leading technology markets such as the US, in high-growth companies with global presence and reach, and leaders in technologies such as AI,” said Chema Alonso (pictured, left), chief of digital data at Telefonica.

Perplexity co-founder and CEO Aravind Srinivas (pictured, right) said the company looks forward to working with Telefonica to “push the boundaries of what’s possible in AI-driven information discovery”.

While the hype grows around Perplexity, the company was hit with a blow after reportedly being served a cease and desist notice by The New York Times over use of the newspaper’s content to generate AI output.