Perplexity AI partners with PayPal to enable in-chat purchases

American AI-powered answer engine Perplexity AI announced on Wednesday a new partnership with PayPal to enable direct purchases within its chat interface, marking a major step in the evolution of AI-driven commerce.

The collaboration will allow users to complete transactions, such as buying products, booking travel, or securing event tickets, seamlessly through Perplexity Pro using PayPal or Venmo, starting this summer in the United States.

The integration supports the rise of "agentic commerce," where AI not only assists consumers with discovery and recommendations but also manages the purchase process itself. According to Perplexity, the entire transaction, including payment and invoicing, will take place in the background through PayPal's account-linking technology, aiming to remove the need for passwords and reduce the experience to a single query or click.

As part of the partnership, Perplexity’s tools will gain access to PayPal’s global network of more than 430 million active accounts across nearly 200 markets, significantly expanding its commercial reach.

Perplexity functions as an AI-powered answer engine, similar to ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini, sourcing information from the internet. The startup is backed by major investors including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, AI leader Nvidia, and Japan’s SoftBank Group.