Snap’s New AI Search Engine to Be Powered by Perplexity
The $400 Million Partnership Shaping In-App Discovery
Snap Inc. is making a bold move in AI-powered search, announcing a $400 million partnership with Perplexity AI to embed its conversational search engine directly into Snapchat. Unveiled alongside Snap’s Q3 2025 results, the cash-and-equity deal grants Perplexity access to over 940 million monthly active users, fundamentally rethinking how search occurs within a social app. The integration, expected in early 2026, signals a strategic pivot toward embedded AI discovery, where answers come to users rather than requiring them to leave the app.
Beyond the financial terms, this alliance positions Perplexity to scale rapidly while giving Snap a new revenue stream and enhanced utility within its ecosystem. Snapchat+ subscribers, now over 17 million, stand to benefit from an even more sophisticated in-app experience, and investors reacted positively, with Snap’s stock rising nearly 8% post-announcement.
How Perplexity AI Transforms Snapchat Search
Starting next year, Snapchat users will be able to ask questions conversationally within the app, receiving direct, sourced answers from Perplexity AI without being redirected to external websites. This integration will complement Snap’s existing My AI chatbot, creating a layered experience for different user intents.
The innovation lies in moving search from a traditional query box to a natural conversational flow. By analyzing multimodal inputs—chats, Stories, or lenses—Perplexity can deliver context-aware, real-time responses, offering a richer, more intuitive search experience than typical web results.
Strategic Significance of the Deal
For Perplexity, the partnership is a masterclass in embedded growth strategy. Rather than competing for attention on crowded search engines, Perplexity taps into Snapchat’s highly engaged Gen Z audience, where over 75% of users are aged 13–34 across 25+ countries. The $400 million deal buys distribution, user engagement, and unprecedented access to natural language data.
For Snap, the benefits extend beyond revenue. Integrating a sophisticated AI search engine enhances engagement, positions Snapchat as a hub for instant knowledge and discovery, and creates opportunities for AI-powered sponsored content and commerce in the future.
Redefining AI Search
This deal represents a shift in the AI search landscape. Standalone AI apps are giving way to integrated AI experiences, embedded directly within social platforms where users already interact. By meeting users where they naturally ask questions, Perplexity gains richer behavioral data and faster growth than any independent app could achieve.
The partnership also reframes competition: it’s no longer about outperforming Google on traditional SERPs; it’s about controlling the new interface of curiosity, where the next generation searches visually, socially, and conversationally.
The Data and Feedback Advantage
One of Perplexity’s biggest gains is access to a massive, contextual dataset. By operating within Snapchat, the AI sees queries within social interactions—Stories, chats, and ephemeral content—allowing for deeper understanding of user intent and language nuances. This feedback loop accelerates AI model refinement, helping Perplexity handle the informal, social-style questions that dominate modern platforms.
Implications for Users, Creators, and Marketers
For users, the integration enables frictionless, in-app discovery—for example, learning about a product seen in a friend’s Story without leaving Snapchat. For creators and marketers, the feature signals a shift toward AI-mediated content discovery, where context-aware search and recommendations open new engagement and monetization opportunities.
Marketers will need to pivot from traditional keyword strategies to understanding natural language intent within social contexts. Future ad formats could include sponsored AI answers or product recommendations seamlessly integrated into chat flows, blending utility with commerce.
Privacy and Execution Considerations
The deep integration raises important privacy and data governance questions. Snap and Perplexity must ensure transparent policies on data usage and protection, particularly given Snapchat’s younger demographic. Technical execution must maintain the playful, social tone of Snapchat, ensuring the AI feels native and enhances, rather than disrupts, the user experience.
The Future of Embedded AI Discovery
Snap and Perplexity’s partnership signals that the next frontier in search isn’t smarter models in isolation—it’s bringing AI to where users already spend their time. By embedding intelligence into chats and feeds, they’re redefining discovery, creating a blueprint for AI-native integration that combines audience reach, context-aware responses, and monetization potential.
As 2026 unfolds, this collaboration could determine how the next billion people search, shaping expectations for conversational AI in social platforms and setting a standard for embedded, ecosystem-centric intelligence.