AI search engine Perplexity is reportedly in talks to raise $500 million at an $8 billion valuation, according to the Wall Street Journal. This funding round would more than double its previous valuation of $3 billion from a SoftBank investment. The company currently handles about 15 million queries daily, generating around $50 million in annual revenue. Despite facing accusations of unauthorized web scraping, CEO Aravind Srinivas aims to collaborate with publishers. This fundraising comes in the wake of OpenAI's notable $6.6 billion round, signaling strong investor interest in AI-driven search technology.