Snapchat strikes $400M deal to add Perplexity AI Search

Just a heads up, if you buy something through our links, we may get a small share of the sale. It’s one of the ways we keep the lights on here. Click here for more.

Snapchat is about to get a whole lot chattier, and not just from your friends sending you 47-second videos of their dog. 

Snap has struck a $400 million deal with Perplexity AI that will bake the buzzy AI search engine directly into Snapchat’s chat interface starting in early 2026. 

Soon you’ll be able to ask Snapchat things like “Why is the sky blue?” or “How do I fix my situationship?” and get real, sourced answers without ever leaving the app.

Unlike the usual “vibe-only” Snapchat experience, Perplexity’s answers will come with verifiable sources, meaning this isn’t just another chatbot making confident nonsense. 

Snap says the deal will start contributing to its bottom line in 2026, which is corporate-speak for: “Yes, we just got paid a ton of money for this.”

CEO Evan Spiegel says this is just the beginning. In a letter to shareholders, he hinted that Snapchat could turn into a full-on AI distribution hub, where multiple AI partners plug into the app like apps inside an app. 

Basically, Snapchat wants to be the mall food court for AI assistants, and Perplexity just opened the first booth.

Snap is already deep in the AI trend: its own chatbot, MyAI, is powered by models from OpenAI and Google, and soon Perplexity will join the mix. 

AI features have also helped juice Snapchat+, the company’s paid tier, with things like AI lenses and creative tools.

But Spiegel wasn’t done teasing. He also previewed AI Clips, a new tool that will let creators generate short videos from simple text prompts, TikTok meets “make my video for me.” 

No launch date yet, but you can already hear influencers refreshing their update tabs.

Oh, and remember Snap’s AR glasses? They’re coming back again. 

A new version of Specs is planned for next year, now being spun into its own subsidiary, so Snap can maybe team up with hardware partners, aka someone else can pay to actually build them.

So to recap: Snapchat is getting an AI search engine, AI video tools, and maybe new glasses,  all while still being the app where teenagers send blank selfies. 2026 is about to get weird.