On the 3rd of this month, the artificial intelligence (AI) corporation Perplexity, headquartered in Silicon Valley, United States, opened a cafe in Gangnam, Seoul, on Dosan-daero. Located on the 1st floor and basement of the Artist Company building, which is primarily owned by actor Lee Jung-jae, 'Cafe Curious' is the world's first offline cafe operated by Perplexity. This move is seen as an attempt to strengthen its strategy to target the promising AI market in Korea.
At the cafe visited on the afternoon of the 4th, office workers in the Dosan-daero area gathered in groups after lunch to choose menu items and enjoy beverages and desserts. The staff member taking orders introduced, "Cafe Curious was opened by the AI corporation Perplexity," and informed customers that by subscribing to Perplexity's paid service, 'Perplexity Pro,' they could buy drinks at a 50% discounted price. The price of an Americano, one of the beverages for sale, is 7,000 won, which is relatively high considering the cafe's location in Gangnam. Cakes and pies from a place known as a 'pie specialty store' in Seongsu-dong, Thousand, are also available for purchase. By signing up for Perplexity Pro through a QR code that can only be accessed in the cafe, customers can receive the first month for free.
Cafe Curious is drawing attention as the first case in the world where a global AI corporation operates a cafe directly. While Perplexity briefly operated a coffee truck called 'Curiousity' in New York in June this year as a pop-up store event, this is the first time it has opened a physical cafe. When explaining why it chose a cafe as its first offline space, Perplexity stated, "We considered that coffee is a beverage that modern workers enjoy drinking to enhance their work efficiency by effectively utilizing AI." The image of coffee, which awakens the senses and clears the mind, aligns well with AI, and the unique love Koreans have for coffee and their preference for cafes also influenced this decision.
The decision to locate the cafe in the heart of Gangnam appears to be related to the collaborative relationship between Artist Company and Perplexity. Aravind Srinivasan, the CEO of Perplexity, who is a fan of 'Squid Game,' requested a meeting with the actor Lee Jung-jae from Artist Company, and the two parties decided to jointly develop AI and entertainment convergence services this January. It seems that the cafe is an extension of this cooperation, settling in the Artist Company building. In March, Perplexity also released an advertisement featuring Lee Jung-jae.
Perplexity aims to increase brand awareness by using the cafe space to expand touchpoints with potential users. In fact, Cafe Curious is designed as an experiential space where visitors can experience AI technology and the Perplexity brand. The cafe displays merchandise such as exclusive mugs and beans, similar to other cafes like Starbucks or Blue Bottle. Customers can also purchase Perplexity-specific T-shirts, eco bags, hats, and notebooks that are sold in the online merchandise shop. The music gently played in the cafe is generated using AI. The interior of the cafe evokes both a spaceship and an American home from the 1960s or 1970s; the company stated, "We aimed to capture both the retro sentiment and futuristic image in accordance with Perplexity's philosophy that today's questions are connected to tomorrow's knowledge."
Perplexity was founded in 2022 by individuals from OpenAI and Google DeepMind and is a generative AI startup. It operates an AI answering engine of the same name, which summarizes and analyzes search results to provide organized answers, with nearly 15 million monthly users. As of last month, its corporate valuation was approximately $18 billion (around 24.8 trillion won), drawing attention as it has received investments from Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, and Nvidia. In July, it launched 'Comet,' an AI web browser to compete with Google Chrome.
The number of Perplexity users in Korea is also rapidly increasing. According to IGAworks' mobile index, the monthly active users (MAU) of Perplexity have more than doubled from about 330,000 at the beginning of the year to approximately 820,000 last month. Currently, while ChatGPT has over 12 million monthly users in the domestic market, making it the overwhelming number one, latecomers like Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude, and Perplexity are seeing additional growth opportunities and are ramping up their market expansion. Recently, major global AI corporations such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and Cohere have announced plans to establish branches in Korea.
According to the Korea Artificial Intelligence and Software Industry Association (KOSA), the domestic AI market size is projected to grow from $2.07 billion in 2022 to $20 billion (approximately 27.86 trillion won) by 2032.
Brand marketing through offline spaces by tech corporations like Perplexity is a global trend. Google operates 'Google Store' locations selling Google hardware devices in Chelsea Market in New York and San Francisco. Customers can find various products including Google Pixel, Google Nest, and Fitbit in these stores. Meta opened a Meta Store selling virtual reality (VR) devices in California in 2022. Netflix is scheduled to unveil 'Netflix House' in November, allowing visitors to experience its popular intellectual properties (IP) like 'Squid Game' and 'Stranger Things' in an offline setting.
An industry official noted, "As competition in the AI market intensifies and AI chatbots become part of daily life, similar to messenger services like KakaoTalk, it has become crucial for AI corporations to increase touchpoints with consumers and build a positive brand image through advertising and experiential spaces."