On the 3rd, the global artificial intelligence (AI) corporation Perplexity opened a themed café called "Cafe Curious" at the headquarters of the entertainment agency Artist Company located on Dosan-daero in Gangnam, Seoul. This is the world's first Perplexity café. It is also the first attempt for an AI corporation to operate a café directly.
Company officials stated that Cafe Curious provides an experience that directly connects AI technology and people in an offline space. The music playing in the café is also reproduced using AI. A Perplexity representative noted, "We infused the expectations placed on technology in the U.S. in the 60s and 70s into 21st-century design," adding that they aimed to encompass both retro sensibilities and futuristic imagery in line with Perplexity's philosophy of connecting yesterday's curiosity to today's questions and today's questions to tomorrow's knowledge.
Perplexity explained that the café's name, "Curiosity," is inspired by the customized answers provided by the Perplexity service in response to users' questions arising from curiosity. Cafe Curious features contributions from the spatial design studio "Discovering the Four Faces" and the coffee solution corporation "Bean Brothers," while the fashion brand "Gloni" produced staff uniforms.
Perplexity Pro subscribers can purchase all manufactured beverages sold at this café at a 50% discounted price. They can also see and buy products from Perplexity's official online merchandise shop, Perplexity Supply, directly.
Jun Morita, Asia representative of Perplexity, said, "Cafe Curious is a space for sharing knowledge and curiosity with Perplexity users, where more people can experience the joy of exploring together with AI."
Perplexity is an AI corporation established in 2022. It operates an AI answer engine service with the same name. The service provides structured answers by summarizing and analyzing search results.