Perplexity, a startup developing an artificial intelligence-based search engine, has announced its vision of TikTok's future if the platform is taken over by US companies.
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In its blog post, Perplexity proposed a complete redesign of TikTok's recommendation algorithm from the ground up.
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Perplexity emphasises that TikTok's current algorithm is a ‘black box’, and its control by ByteDance creates risks of user manipulation.
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The startup proposes to make the recommendation system transparent by opening the source code and move TikTok's infrastructure to US data centres under US control.
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To make recommendations more accurate, Perplexity plans to upgrade its AI infrastructure with Nvidia Dynamo, add citation and context features to videos, and integrate its search algorithms with TikTok's video library.
Perplexity first offered to buy out TikTok back in January. Bloomberg recently reported that Perplexity is negotiating a new round of funding with a startup valuation of $18bn. While some analysts estimate the deal for the social network at $30-$50bn.
ByteDance has until 5 April to complete the sale of TikTok to an American owner, otherwise the network will be banned in the US. The platform was supposed to be blocked on 19 January under a law passed during the Biden administration, but Trump postponed the ban.
Earlier, The Information reported, citing sources, that the main contender for the management of the American part of the social network was the American technology corporation Oracle.
Prior to that, Trump said that four bidders were involved in the process, but did not specify the names of the participants.
Other well-known American bidders interested in acquiring control of TikTok include a group led by billionaire Frank McCourt and Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. Also, a group with the participation of tech entrepreneur Jesse Tinsley and YouTube star MrBeast.
