Whether TikTok stays with Perplexity AI's backing or goes, without that juicy algorithm ByteDance doesn’t seem willing to part with, the app won't ever be the same.

Perplexity AI search startup has a new proposal to merge with TikTok, which would give the US government a stake of up to 50%.

U.S. search engine startup Perplexity AI has revised the merger proposal it had submitted to TikTok's Chinese parent ByteDance to create a new entity combining Perplexity and TikTok U.S., a person familiar with the proposal told Reuters on Sunday.