Artificial intelligence (AI) start-up Perplexity has made a surprise $34.5bn (£25.6bn) takeover offer for Google's Chrome internet browser. Moving Chrome to an independent operator committed to user safety would benefit the public, Perplexity said in a letter to Sundar Pichai, the boss of Google's owner Alphabet.

In an unlikely bid that shows the growing brashness of young artificial intelligence companies, the AI startup Perplexity has made an unsolicited offer to buy Google’s Chrome web browser for $34.5 billion.

The AI search startup looks less like an acquirer and more like a company to be acquired, but its CEO understands that optics matter.