AI startup Perplexity has acquired Visual Electric, a creative video generation company, in a strategic move to enhance its multimedia and generative AI offerings. The acquisition, announced on October 2, 2025, positions Perplexity to compete more directly with OpenAI’s Sora and Google’s Nano Banana, both of which have gained prominence in AI-driven video creation.

As part of the acquisition, Visual Electric will discontinue its standalone operations within 90 days. Users have been offered the option to export their data and request refunds before the platform is fully integrated into Perplexity’s new “Agent Experiences” division — a unit dedicated to developing interactive, AI-powered media tools.

The move reflects Perplexity’s ambition to evolve beyond text-based search and conversational AI into a more immersive, multimodal ecosystem. By leveraging Visual Electric’s video synthesis and design technology, Perplexity aims to enable users to generate, edit, and interact with high-quality video content through natural language prompts.

Industry observers say this acquisition signals Perplexity’s intent to become a full-spectrum AI platform capable of rivaling OpenAI and Google’s expanding suite of creative tools. While Sora dominates AI video storytelling and Nano Banana focuses on generative realism, Perplexity appears to be carving its niche around real-time, conversational video generation.

Visual Electric, founded in 2023, gained attention for its AI video design software used by content creators and marketing professionals. Its integration into Perplexity’s ecosystem could give users access to new visual capabilities within the Perplexity app and web platform.

Analysts believe the acquisition could redefine Perplexity’s positioning from an AI search assistant to a creative engine that merges video generation with interactive intelligence — signaling a new phase in the company’s evolution.