Perplexity’s new Voice Assistant feature brings powerful AI capabilities to iOS users, offering a compelling alternative to Apple’s delayed Siri enhancements. This update significantly expands accessibility to conversational AI on Apple devices, notably including older iPhones and iPads that won’t support Apple Intelligence, while providing sophisticated integration with various apps and services.
The big picture: Perplexity has updated its iOS app with a new Voice Assistant feature that allows users to interact with AI through voice commands even when navigating away from the app.
- The assistant can perform complex tasks across multiple apps, including drafting emails, controlling smart home devices, and making reservations.
- This update arrives as Apple’s own conversational AI enhancements for Siri face delays, potentially not arriving for several more months.
Key capabilities: Voice Assistant can perform numerous functions directly through the Perplexity iOS app, given appropriate user permissions.
- The feature can send emails, control smart homes, provide Apple Maps directions, schedule calendar events, play media content, and make reservations.
- Users can add Voice Assistant shortcuts to their Lock Screen or assign it to an iPhone’s Action button for quick access.
Under the hood: Perplexity leverages multiple advanced large language models to power its voice assistant functionality.
- The app utilizes OpenAI’s GPT-4.1, Google’s Gemini 2.5 Pro, Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet, and xAi’s Grok-2.
- While the iOS version currently lacks the screen sharing capability found in the Android app, it still offers robust functionality across devices.
Availability: Perplexity syncs across devices and is available as a free download with optional in-app subscriptions from the App Store.
Recent Stories
DOE fusion roadmap targets 2030s commercial deployment as AI drives $9B investment
The Department of Energy has released a new roadmap targeting commercial-scale fusion power deployment by the mid-2030s, though the plan lacks specific funding commitments and relies on scientific breakthroughs that have eluded researchers for decades. The strategy emphasizes public-private partnerships and positions AI as both a research tool and motivation for developing fusion energy to meet data centers' growing electricity demands. The big picture: The DOE's roadmap aims to "deliver the public infrastructure that supports the fusion private sector scale up in the 2030s," but acknowledges it cannot commit to specific funding levels and remains subject to Congressional appropriations. Why...
Oct 17, 2025Tying it all together: Credo’s purple cables power the $4B AI data center boom
Credo, a Silicon Valley semiconductor company specializing in data center cables and chips, has seen its stock price more than double this year to $143.61, following a 245% surge in 2024. The company's signature purple cables, which cost between $300-$500 each, have become essential infrastructure for AI data centers, positioning Credo to capitalize on the trillion-dollar AI infrastructure expansion as hyperscalers like Amazon, Microsoft, and Elon Musk's xAI rapidly build out massive computing facilities. What you should know: Credo's active electrical cables (AECs) are becoming indispensable for connecting the massive GPU clusters required for AI training and inference. The company...
Oct 17, 2025Vatican launches Latin American AI network for human development
The Vatican hosted a two-day conference bringing together 50 global experts to explore how artificial intelligence can advance peace, social justice, and human development. The event launched the Latin American AI Network for Integral Human Development and established principles for ethical AI governance that prioritize human dignity over technological advancement. What you should know: The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences, the Vatican's research body for social issues, organized the "Digital Rerum Novarum" conference on October 16-17, combining academic research with practical AI applications. Participants included leading experts from MIT, Microsoft, Columbia University, the UN, and major European institutions. The conference...