Artificial intelligence (AI) start-up Perplexity has made a surprise $34.5bn (£25.6bn) takeover offer for Google's Chrome internet browser. Moving Chrome to an independent operator committed to user safety would benefit the public, Perplexity said in a letter to Sundar Pichai, the boss of Google's owner Alphabet.

Perplexity, the AI startup responsible for the eponymous chatbot and LLM-powered search engine, has made a formal bid to purchase Google's Chrome browser. The proposed $34.5 billion deal would eclipse Perplexity's current valuation.

Artificial intelligence search company Perplexity has made an unsolicited, $34.5 billion offer to purchase Google’s Chrome browser, a surprise move by a Google Search challenger that’s looking to upend how people find information online.