ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, is required to sell the app to a U.S.-based buyer or face a nationwide ban.

Potential buyers for TikTok US include MrBeast, Kevin O'Leary, Frank McCourt's Project Liberty and Perplexity AI, who bid a merger instead of a sale,

TikTok is an AI app. Not an “ask a bot to do your homework” kind of AI app, but an AI app all the same: Its algorithm processes and acts upon huge amounts of data to keep users engaged. Without that fundamental, freakishly well-tuned technology, TikTok wouldn’t really be anything at all—just another video or shopping platform.

Artificial Intelligence backed search engine Perplexity AI has submitted a bid with TikTok parent company Bytedance to merge with TikTok US, according to a Reuters report. Reportedly, Perplexity AI would merge with TikTok US and create a new entity called New Capital Partners.

But the model is only meant to be used within China’s mainland, a ByteDance spokesperson told TechCrunch. The e-reader’s China-based manufacturer, Onyx International, which sells Boox e-readers in both China and to the U.

Trump’s announcement came hours after TikTok went dark in the United States under a law banning it in the name of national security, as a deadline for its Chinese owners ByteDance to sell its US subsidiary to non-Chinese buyers lapsed.

Even if temporary, the unprecedented shutdown of TikTok will have an impact on U.S.-China relations, domestic politics, the social-media marketplace and millions of Americans who depend on the app.

The search engine platform Perplexity AI submitted a bid to merge with TikTok on Saturday, a source familiar told The Hill. The move follows a Friday Supreme Court ruling that upheld the decision

Perplexity, an artificial intelligence search engine startup, has bid to merge with TikTok U.S. so the platform can avoid being banned in the country.

Users on the app were saying their goodbyes, some filming themselves frantically scrolling or sharing final secrets with their followers ahead of the possible ban.

Notably, RedNote (Xiaohongshu) is still available for download from the U.S. app store, despite being a Chinese-owned platform subject to China's data privacy and censorship laws. In the lead-up to TikTok's banning, many users have flocked to the video-forward platform as a potential alternative.