Perplexity AI Partners with Snapchat for $400M AI Search Deal

Search is no longer something you “go” to — it’s becoming something that comes to you.

Snapchat just made that official.

The company announced a massive $400 million deal with Perplexity AI, one of the fastest-growing conversational search engines, to power search results directly inside Snapchat’s My AI chatbot. That means next time you ask Snapchat a question — anything from “What’s the best place for coffee nearby?” to “Who won the game last night?” — the answers will come from Perplexity’s engine, not Google’s.

This move puts Perplexity in front of more than 940 million Snapchat users, giving it the kind of distribution most AI startups can only dream of. The feature is expected to roll out in early 2026, integrating directly into the app’s interface. Snap confirmed the partnership and said it would start recording revenue from the deal next year.

Here’s why this matters.

For the first time, search is leaving the browser and entering the chat.
It’s not just about typing keywords anymore — it’s about asking questions naturally, in the same place you talk to friends.

This is a big win for Perplexity, whose mission has been to “make knowledge more accessible through conversation.” The company’s partnership with Snapchat gives it unprecedented scale — not through a website, but through daily conversations among Gen Z users who live on the platform.

For Snap, the deal is equally strategic. Integrating AI-powered search directly into My AI gives it a new edge in user engagement and monetization. Snapchat has been building AI features for over a year — from AR lenses to the in-app My AI assistant — but this is the first time it’s monetizing AI at scale.

It also signals something much bigger: the collapse of the line between social media, messaging, and information retrieval.

If you’re under 25, you’re not “Googling” anymore. You’re chatting, scrolling, and asking your apps directly. Snap knows this — and now, with Perplexity in its corner, it’s betting on conversational search to keep you there.

This partnership also comes as both companies chase momentum. Snap’s Q3 2025 report showed a 10% year-over-year revenue increase, hitting $1.51 billion, while narrowing its losses to $104 million. Meanwhile, its premium tier, Snapchat+, surpassed 17 million subscribers.

For Perplexity, which recently crossed 15 million monthly active users and continues to challenge Google’s dominance, the deal is a golden opportunity to showcase how its AI-powered answers can outperform traditional search results — faster, cleaner, and more context-aware.

And that’s where things get interesting.

If Perplexity can make AI-driven search feel native inside Snapchat — simple, conversational, and trusted — it could shift how a generation consumes information. No ads, no clutter, no clickbait — just answers, instantly.

This partnership is a glimpse into the future:
Where your social app becomes your search engine, and your AI assistant lives where your conversations already happen.

Search is going social — and this is the moment it starts.

Because the next generation won’t “look it up.”
They’ll just ask.