Apple weighs Mistral AI and Perplexity deals amid internal AI debate

Apple is weighing a pair of high-profile moves in artificial intelligence, exploring whether to acquire Mistral AI and Perplexity to bolster its AI capabilities. The discussions place services chief Eddy Cue at the vanguard of a potential shift from Apple’s traditional caution toward larger, more transformative deals, even as software chief Craig Federighi urges patience and internal development. The conversations unfold amid broader regulatory and competitive pressures tied to Apple’s ongoing Google search arrangement, which could hinge on a forthcoming court decision.

Mistral AI, based in Paris, is known for open-weight large language models that emphasize smaller size, faster performance, and easier deployment without sacrificing capability. Perplexity, a U.S.-based startup, operates an AI-powered search and answer engine that combines large-language models with real-time web indexing and sources, delivering conversational responses with citations. Taken together, the two firms would offer Apple an immediate, diversified ability to upgrade search, reasoning, and code-related tasks across its products and services.

Inside Apple, the debate reflects a broader tension that has...