Jan 23 (Reuters) - Artificial intelligence startup Perplexity launched an agent-based

assistant for Android devices on Thursday as it looks to take on larger rival OpenAI's ChatGPT

and incumbent assistants such as Apple's ( AAPL ) Siri and Amazon's ( AMZN ) Alexa.

The Nvidia ( NVDA ) and Jeff Bezos-backed company said the tool, known as Perplexity

Assistant, can book dinner reservations, hail rides on apps and set reminders, among other

actions. It is available in 15 languages on Google's Play Store.

"We'd love to make it available on iOS, and if Apple ( AAPL ) gives us the right permissions, we'll

make it happen," a spokesperson for Perplexity said.

OpenAI rolled out a similar tool, called Tasks, to ChatGPT Team and Pro subscribers last

week on the web platform.

Tech giants Amazon ( AMZN ) and Apple ( AAPL ) have also been developing more advanced versions of their

assistants.

Last year, Apple ( AAPL ) incorporated Apple Intelligence into its voice assistant, Siri, and in a

partnership with OpenAI, the iPhone maker also introduced the use of ChatGPT, with user

permission. Meanwhile, Amazon's ( AMZN ) CEO, Andy Jassy, said in December that a refreshed version of

their voice assistant, Alexa, is on the horizon and expected to launch in the "coming months."