SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Perplexity AI chief executive Aravind Srinivas has launched an audacious $34.5 billion bid to acquire Google’s Chrome browser, positioning the fast-growing AI startup at the center of one of the tech industry’s biggest potential shake-ups.

Perplexity AI made a $34.5 billion unsolicited all-cash offer for Alphabet's Chrome browser on Tuesday, a bid far above its own valuation as the startup reaches for the browser's billions of users pivotal to the AI search race.

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