Perplexity buys OS.ai domain to build AI operating system

Dharmesh Shah introduced the area sale via LinkedIn on July 13, 2025, confirming the acquisition by Perplexity AI. “I’ve offered the area os.ai to @AravSrinivas,” Shah said in his publish. In response to Shah, he was already a Perplexity shareholder earlier than the transaction and described himself as “now a considerably bigger shareholder” following the deal. The precise monetary phrases of the area acquisition stay undisclosed.

Aravind Srinivas, Perplexity’s CEO, referenced the area acquisition via a cryptic social media post on July 14, 2025, merely stating “os dot ai” with out elaborating on the corporate’s plans. The publish generated important engagement inside the expertise neighborhood, accumulating 45,000 views and sparking discussions concerning the firm’s future path.

Abstract

Who: Perplexity AI, led by CEO Aravind Srinivas, acquired the premium area OS.ai from HubSpot founder Dharmesh Shah in a transaction that elevated Shah’s present shareholder place within the firm.

What: The acquisition of the OS.ai area represents Perplexity’s strategic transfer towards creating an AI-powered working system, complementing present merchandise together with the Comet browser and Max subscription tier providing superior AI capabilities.

When: The area sale was introduced by Dharmesh Shah on July 13, 2025, with Aravind Srinivas referencing the acquisition via social media on July 14, 2025, although particular monetary phrases stay undisclosed.

The place: The transaction includes a San Francisco-based AI search firm valued at $9 billion as of December 2024, with implications for world working system markets at the moment dominated by Home windows, Android, and iOS platforms.

Why: The acquisition aligns with Perplexity’s imaginative and prescient to create complete AI infrastructure and Srinivas’s said purpose of creating “an working system with which you are able to do nearly every little thing,” positioning the corporate for potential disruption of conventional computing paradigms.

Shah linked the acquisition to broader expertise developments, noting that “each large expertise shift brings a brand new type of OS.” He referenced historic precedents together with the PC wars, browser competitors, and cellular OS improvement. “It makes full sense for an OS for AI to exist,” Shah emphasised in his announcement.

The area acquisition aligns with Srinivas’s earlier statements about creating an working system for synthetic intelligence. He beforehand described his imaginative and prescient for Comet as creating “an working system with which you are able to do nearly every little thing,” enabling Perplexity’s AI to help customers throughout a number of functions and web sites. The CEO emphasised that turning into customers’ default browser may translate to “infinite retention” and elevated question quantity for the platform.

In response to Wikipedia’s operating system usage statistics, Android at the moment dominates the worldwide market with 46% share, adopted by Home windows at 25%, iOS at 18%, and macOS at 6%. The smartphone sector exhibits much more pronounced cellular OS dominance, with Android holding 72% market share and Apple’s iOS commanding 28%. Desktop environments stay Home windows-dominated at 71%, although cellular platforms have overtaken desktop utilization globally since mid-2020.

The timing coincides with Perplexity’s broader product improvement technique. The corporate launched its Comet browser on July 9, 2025, initially accessible to subscribers of its $200-per-month Max plan. The browser integrates Perplexity’s AI search engine because the default search supplier and contains an AI assistant able to summarizing emails, managing browser tabs, and navigating net pages autonomously.

Knowledge assortment represents a basic element of Perplexity’s technique. Throughout a Expertise Brothers Podcast interview in Could 2025, Srinivas disclosed the corporate’s intentions to trace person actions throughout the web via its browser. This approach mirrors Big Tech’s data collection playbook, constructing a complete ecosystem just like Google’s technique of creating merchandise throughout numerous platforms to make sure fixed knowledge assortment. The browser requires intensive permissions, together with entry to view screens, ship emails, entry contacts, and modify calendar occasions earlier than using superior options.

Perplexity’s Max subscription tier, introduced on July 2, 2025, offers limitless entry to superior AI fashions together with OpenAI’s o3-pro and Claude Opus 4. The subscription positions the corporate to compete with premium synthetic intelligence companies whereas producing income from energy customers and enterprise clients.

The area acquisition occurred throughout a interval of serious progress for Perplexity. In response to Bloomberg Information, the corporate’s annual recurring income elevated from $3-4 million firstly of 2024 to roughly $70 million by year-end. Each day queries grew from 2.5 million to twenty million throughout the identical interval, demonstrating substantial market adoption of AI-driven data companies.

This improvement issues considerably for the advertising and marketing neighborhood as a result of it represents a basic shift in how customers would possibly work together with expertise. Conventional working techniques have served as the inspiration for digital promoting and person engagement methods. An AI-powered working system may reshape these dynamics completely, doubtlessly altering how manufacturers attain and work together with shoppers. Nonetheless, privateness implications accompany this transformation, as complete knowledge assortment turns into important for efficient AI personalization and monetization methods.

The broader context contains Perplexity’s recent entry into advertising, launching sponsored questions and facet media placements in November 2024. The corporate has additionally explored radical advertising models the place AI brokers, relatively than people, may develop into the first goal for ads.

Business observers observe that creating an working system represents a big technical endeavor, significantly given the market dominance of established gamers. Browser switching faces excessive person friction, as individuals develop workflows round bookmarks, saved passwords, and extension ecosystems that require effort and time to duplicate. An working system would current even better adoption challenges.

The acquisition alerts Perplexity’s intention to compete past search and into foundational expertise infrastructure. Shah’s historic perspective acknowledges that “many years in the past we noticed the PC wars” and subsequent battles for browser and cellular OS dominance. His statement that “it’s inevitable and thrilling” suggests confidence within the technological shift towards AI-centric computing environments.

Technical structure for AI working techniques includes advanced concerns round course of administration, reminiscence allocation, and {hardware} integration. Not like conventional working techniques targeted on managing pc assets, an AI OS would wish to prioritize clever process automation, contextual help, and seamless integration of AI capabilities throughout all person interactions.

Knowledge assortment turns into important for AI working techniques to operate successfully. AI fashions require complete person conduct knowledge to study preferences, predict wants, and supply personalised help. An AI OS would wish entry to utility utilization patterns, file interactions, communication habits, and workflow preferences to ship significant automation. This knowledge allows the system to anticipate person wants, recommend related actions, and optimize efficiency primarily based on particular person utilization patterns. Actual-time knowledge assortment additionally permits AI techniques to adapt to altering person preferences and supply contextually related help all through the computing expertise. For Perplexity, intensive knowledge assortment via browsers and working techniques would allow superior AI personalization whereas supporting advertising-based income fashions that depend upon detailed person insights for efficient concentrating on.

The area’s worth extends past its technical potential. Premium domains like OS.ai carry important branding benefits, significantly in rising expertise sectors the place credibility and memorability matter enormously. The acquisition offers Perplexity with a strategic asset that might facilitate person adoption and market positioning.

Present working system statistics reveal the problem dealing with any new entrant. Home windows maintains 71% of desktop market share, whereas cellular platforms have achieved world dominance. Smartphones account for 58% of all system utilization, with desktops at 39.49% and tablets at 2.46%. Creating a brand new working system class requires not simply technical innovation however basic adjustments in person conduct and expectations.

For advertising and marketing professionals, this improvement alerts potential disruption in how digital promoting and person engagement methods operate. Conventional working techniques function platforms for functions that generate person consideration and knowledge. An AI-powered working system may basically alter these relationships, significantly if it prioritizes person utility over promoting income fashions. The information assortment capabilities inherent in an AI OS would offer unprecedented insights into person conduct, preferences, and decision-making patterns, doubtlessly creating each alternatives and privateness issues for entrepreneurs.

The acquisition represents one element of Perplexity’s broader technique to construct complete AI infrastructure. Mixed with the Comet browser, Max subscription tier, and promoting platform, the OS.ai area suggests ambitions to create an built-in ecosystem of AI-powered instruments and companies.

Market dynamics within the AI sector help aggressive growth methods. The corporate achieved a $9 billion valuation in December 2024, marking speedy progress since its founding in August 2022. This monetary place offers assets for formidable technical initiatives like working system improvement.

Business precedents exhibit each the potential and challenges of making new working techniques. Google’s Chrome OS achieved restricted success in particular markets, whereas different makes an attempt confronted important adoption obstacles. The important thing distinction might be AI integration, which presents basically new worth propositions in comparison with conventional computing paradigms.

The social media response to each Shah’s announcement and Srinivas’s cryptic publish signifies sturdy expertise neighborhood curiosity. Feedback ranged from congratulations to technical hypothesis about implementation approaches. This engagement suggests market urge for food for AI-driven working system innovation.

Perplexity’s positioning differs from conventional tech giants making an attempt working system improvement. Somewhat than competing straight with present techniques, an AI OS may signify a completely new class targeted on clever help and automatic process administration relatively than conventional utility internet hosting.

The corporate faces a number of technical challenges in working system improvement. Integration with present {hardware}, driver help, utility compatibility, and safety concerns signify important engineering undertakings. Nonetheless, Perplexity’s expertise with AI integration throughout net platforms offers related technical basis.

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