An AI to take action on iOS
Perplexity AI has brought a new voice assistant to iOS
The assistant can open apps like OpenTable or YouTube and prefill tasks like reservations or video searches
Perplexity offers a streamlined alternative to Siri that may beat the native voice assistant in most ways
AI conversational search engine Perplexity is coming for Siri in the form of a new iOS voice assistant. Previously limited to Android, Perplexity’s voice assistant wants users to turn to it before the native option. Further, there are a few good reasons why iPhone owners might be inclined to do so.
Basically, it’s more proactive and able to go a few extra steps beyond Siri’s abilities. Ask it to find a dinner reservation, and it will dive into the OpenTable app to fill in your reservation requests, including guests, date, and time, without you having to say another word, just leaving the final tap on the Book button.
The same goes for hunting for moments in YouTube videos. You can describe the climactic win from a niche sports documentary, see it queued up on YouTube right away.
Of course, some of what Perplexity can do are things that Siri already handles, like writing emails and setting up calendar events.
