Cristiano Ronaldo invests in Perplexity AI, announces brand collaboration for digital hub — What we know

Arvind Srinivas' artificial intelligence start-up Perplexity AI in a statement on 4 December announced investment and global partnership from legendary footballer Cristiano Ronaldo.

Perplexity's announcement said Ronaldo's global partnership with Perplexity, aligns “his legacy of self-improvement with an AI answer engine built for people who expect the same from their tools”.

It added that the sportsman is a user of the platform and “relies on Perplexity in high-stakes moments, including award speeches and major announcements”.

In a post on social media platform X (formerly twitter), Cristiano Ronaldo said he is “proud” to announce his investment in Perplexity AI.

What is the Perplexity x CR7 hub?

Ronaldo in his announcement said the decision is beginning of a longer-term vision and comprises the “Perplexity x CR7” digital hub, that will bring together more than two decades of Ronaldo’s football journey into one immersive space.

The Cristiano Ronaldo hub will be an interactive CR7 experience where fans can explore his career, see rare images, browse curated questions, relive iconic goals, and dig into the stories behind them. More content, experiences, and exclusive merchandise will follow over the course of the partnership, it added.

You can check it out here — https://www.perplexity.ai/ronaldo

Perplexity AI adds a ‘conversational’ shopping assistant

Earlier on 26 November, Perplexity announced the launch of a dedicated AI shopping assistant for users in the US on its desktop and web applications and will be rolled out on the Perplexity iOS and Android app over few weeks.

The company said the AI shopping assistant uses natural language prompts to provide personalised product recommendations to users. “Perplexity remembers your past searches and learns your patterns, so when you ask about a desk lamp today, it finds options that match your mid-century modern aesthetic, not what advertisers want to sell first,” the company explained in its blog post.

Perplexity has partnered with PayPal to process payments for orders. The company says this partnership will let retailers stay at the centre of the transaction as the merchant of record and provide them with full visibility into who their customer is. It also noted that customers who go through the conversational, personalised shopping experience have significantly higher intention to purchase.