SoundHound AI and Perplexity Partner to Bring Online LLMs to Next Gen Voice Assistants Across Cars and IoT Devices

May 09, 2024

Perplexity’s capabilities added to SoundHound Chat AI will respond to questions conversationally with real-time knowledge from the web

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 9, 2024-- SoundHound AI, Inc. (Nasdaq: SOUN), a global leader in voice artificial intelligence, today announced that it has partnered with Perplexity, the conversational AI-powered answer engine. Together they will bring Perplexity’s online LLM capabilities to SoundHound Chat AI – a best-in-class voice assistant that utilizes hundreds of real-time domains, as well as generative AI responses. The move will reinforce SoundHound’s AI product as the most advanced voice assistant available on the market today.

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Perplexity’s capabilities added to SoundHound Chat AI will respond to questions conversationally with real-time knowledge from the web (Graphic: Business Wire)

Perplexity’s capabilities added to SoundHound Chat AI will respond to questions conversationally with real-time knowledge from the web (Graphic: Business Wire)

The SoundHound Chat AI assistant will leverage Perplexity to provide accurate, up-to-date responses to web-based queries that static LLMs cannot currently answer – expanding the type and complexity of the questions the assistant is able to handle.

For example, a user can ask a question like: “How does the price of gas this week compare to last week?” and the response will combine accurate, live information on gas prices with a comprehensive generative AI-style explanation that provides further context. The user can then follow-up with, “Navigate to the nearest gas station,” which uses SoundHound’s technology to seamlessly incorporate data from the appropriate sources and integrate with the navigation software of a device such as a car or a phone.

SoundHound’s voice AI products are built on nearly 20 years of experience in AI, speech recognition, and natural language processing. The company’s proprietary technology allows for category-leading speed and accuracy – allowing a user to speak naturally to access a vast range of real-time knowledge domains (like flight times, sports scores, music selection, and restaurant search), generative AI responses (from multiple LLMs), and now Perplexity’s incredible web-search results.

SoundHound Chat AI was the first voice assistant in the world to launch with generative AI capabilities, as well as the first in the world to go into production for automotive. SoundHound Chat AI is already deployed in over 12 countries in 18 languages with automotive partner, Stellantis.

The assistant also utilizes a specially developed arbitration technology that uses a combination of software engineering and machine learning to intelligently select the more appropriate response, helping to minimize harmful “AI hallucinations.”

“Through this integration with SoundHound’s Chat AI assistant, we’re one step closer to our goal of making Perplexity available to everyone across every device they use,” said Dmitry Shevelenko, Chief Business Officer at Perplexity AI. “With the growing popularity of voice AI, we’re allowing users to more easily access the information they need, when they need it.”

“By integrating Perplexity search capabilities into SoundHound Chat AI we’re raising the bar for voice assistants and the kinds of queries they can handle effortlessly,” said Mike Zagorsek, Chief Operations Officer at SoundHound AI. “Where this technology is already deployed in vehicles, we’re seeing usage habits shift substantially – increasing by multiples. We’re confident that this enhancement will further delight users as more and more people choose to talk rather than type.”

To learn more about SoundHound Chat AI visit www.soundhound.com.

About SoundHound AI

SoundHound (Nasdaq: SOUN), a global leader in conversational intelligence, offers voice AI solutions that let businesses offer incredible conversational experiences to their customers. Built on proprietary technology, SoundHound’s voice AI delivers best-in-class speed and accuracy in numerous languages to product creators across automotive, TV, and IoT, and to customer service industries via groundbreaking AI-driven products like Smart Answering, Smart Ordering, and Dynamic Drive Thru , an AI-powered multimodal food ordering solution. Along with SoundHound Chat AI, a powerful voice assistant with integrated Generative AI, SoundHound powers millions of products and services, and processes billions of interactions each year for world class businesses.

About Perplexity AI

Founded in 2022 by former members of OpenAI, Meta, Quora, Bing and Databricks, Perplexity AI is the builder of the world's first generally available conversational answer engine that draws from credible sources in real-time and directly answers users' questions with sourcing and citations. The company's mission is to give people access to concise and trustworthy information. Visit www.perplexity.ai or download from the App Store to learn more.

Fiona McEvoy
415 610-6590
[email protected]

Source: SoundHound AI, Inc.