AI tools have drastically changed the way we search for, create, and use information. Perplexity AI, which started in 2022, is becoming a popular search and answer engine.

It acts as a smart assistant that knows your preferences. It gives personalized suggestions and answers your questions in a way that feels natural.

In this article, we’ll explore Perplexity AI in detail. We’ll look at its features and point out its advantages and drawbacks. By the end, you’ll know how Perplexity AI can improve your search experience.

What is Perplexity AI?

Perplexity AI is a search engine and chatbot powered by AI. It uses advanced technologies like natural language processing (NLP) and machine learning to give precise and detailed answers to user queries. It searches the web in real-time, providing up-to-date information on various topics. 

Perplexity AI uses multiple large language models (LLMs) to enable its natural language processing capabilities. These models include GPT-4, Claude 3, Mistral Large, and Perplexity’s custom models. These LLMs help Perplexity AI understand user queries and summarize relevant answers.

Perplexity AI also has a built-in search engine that indexes sources daily. It can even provide real-time updates.

It offers two types of searches:

Quick Search: Provides fast, basic answers.

Pro Search: Understands the specifics of your question and customizes the response to your needs, even asking follow-up questions to refine its answers.

Both search types work similarly. Perplexity AI takes your query, interprets it, finds relevant websites and articles, and then gives you a summary.

Background and Founding Story

Andy Konwinski, Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, and Johnny Ho started Perplexity AI in 2022. They met while working at Google AI. There, they helped develop large language models. They were frustrated because it was hard to access and use the knowledge in these models. So, they decided to start their own company to fix this.

The name “Perplexity” was chosen to show the company’s goal. They want to give clear and helpful answers, even to tough questions. Their mission is to make knowledge easy to access for everyone. This helps people learn and explore new topics easily.

Perplexity AI is still new, but it has made great progress. The team built a powerful search engine. This engine understands the context of questions and provides relevant answers from many sources. Perplexity AI is also working on other features. These include generating code, making tables, and solving math problems.

The company is based in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has funding from several venture capital firms. With a skilled team and strong financial support, Perplexity AI is ready to succeed. They aim to change how people learn and find information with AI-powered search engines.

What Can Perplexity AI Do?

Perplexity AI offers several features in its free version:

  • Search: This is Perplexity AI’s main function. Enter your question or query, and the AI will generate a custom answer based on various web sources.
  • Focus: When querying, you can use the focus feature to specify the types of sources you want the AI to consult. Choose ‘all’ to search the entire web or ‘academic’ for scholarly papers. If you prefer the AI to generate a response without web searching, select ‘writing’.
  • Threads and Collections: A thread is a conversation with Perplexity. For instance, asking about workout sources at home and following up counts as one thread. You can create collections to organize related threads, accessible through the ‘Library’ tab.
  • Discover: The Discover tab includes a built-in news feed featuring the latest articles and news items. Click on an article to view it within the Perplexity AI interface.
  • Pro Search: Perplexity Copilot enhances your search experience, similar to a helpful librarian in a public library. It engages with you, asking follow-up questions to better understand your query. Using GPT-4 and Claude-3 machine learning models, it finds relevant books, research papers, and other sources instead of merely listing them. When conducting detailed research, refine your search using Pro Search. This feature allows up to five Pro Searches with free accounts and up to 600 per day with Perplexity Pro accounts.
  • Real-time Web Search: Perplexity AI searches the internet in real-time. It provides instant information by scanning websites, forums, social media, and news articles. This feature helps you stay updated with current events and presents information from multiple sources in a clear and balanced way.
  • Transparent Source Citation: It ensures credibility by citing all sources used in compiling information for your search query. This transparency is crucial for research and decision-making. It allows you to verify information by checking citations before use.
  • Diverse Source Integration: Perplexity AI gathers information from various sources. This includes academic journals, research papers, social media, news articles, and forums. For example, marketers can use Perplexity AI to study competitors and their strengths. The Pro Search feature customizes results by examining competitor websites and summarizing key findings.
  • App: The Perplexity AI mobile application brings the platform directly to your device. This easy-to-use app includes voice search, supports multiple languages, and enables you to save and share questions and answers. It’s free to download on iOS and Android devices.
  • Chrome Extension: The Perplexity AI Chrome extension is a powerful tool for enhancing your browsing experience. Once installed, it quickly summarizes your active web page. You can ask questions directly from its toolbar and satisfy your curiosity on various topics.

Features available with a paid Perplexity Pro account include:

  • Image Generation: Enhance AI responses with custom-generated images. Note, however, that Perplexity’s image capabilities are not as advanced as tools like Midjourney and DALL-E. Image generation requires entering a search query first, then selecting ‘generate image’.
  • File and Image Upload: Upload PNG, JPEG, and PDF files to complement your questions or queries. For example, you can ask Perplexity AI to summarize a PDF document.

Is Perplexity AI better than ChatGPT?

Perplexity AI excels in research capabilities. It analyzes diverse sources on the internet to provide customized answers with up-to-date information. It also includes citations to show the source of information. On the other hand, ChatGPT shines in conversational flow and generating unique content.

Choosing between Perplexity AI and ChatGPT depends on your objectives. Perplexity AI is ideal for streamlining research processes. It provides personalized search experiences and learning across various topics. Meanwhile, ChatGPT is preferable for generating ideas. Its good for creating content in different formats and assisting with conversational tasks.

Both tools offer free plans. This allows users to experiment and determine which tool best suits their needs. It’s beneficial to explore their capabilities side by side.

Benefits 

Here are some of the pros of using Perplexity AI:

  • Perplexity AI quickly processes user questions, analyzing a lot of data to give relevant information. It lets you ask more questions based on the first answers
  • It has a simple interface that makes chatting easy and keeps conversations smooth. Just type your questions, and Perplexity AI will give clear answers
  • Unlike regular web searches, Perplexity has no ads. It also sorts out ads and focuses on trustworthy sources, so you get useful and fair information
  • Perplexity lists where it got its information from. This helps you check if the answers are accurate and make informed decisions
Perplexity AI
Smart searches, real-time answers. Source: LinkedIn

Challenges 

Here are some of the cons of using Perplexity AI:

  • Perplexity AI aims to provide credible and accurate responses based on user input. However, sometimes the answers generated include additional details that may not be entirely accurate. It’s important to be specific and clear when asking questions to avoid such discrepancies
  • Unlike long-established search engines like Google, Perplexity AI lacks a vast amount of indexed and regularly updated information. This can affect the comprehensiveness of its search results. To achieve similar depth, users may need to ask more follow-up questions
  • Perplexity AI generates responses based on its training datasets. These datasets are relatively new and may lack diversity and size compared to older models

Pricing

Here’s a breakdown of Perplexity AI’s pricing:

Free Version

  • Unlimited Quick Searches
  • 5 Pro Searches per day
  • Standard Perplexity AI model

Perplexity Pro ($20/month)

  • Unlimited Quick Searches
  • 600 Pro Searches per day
  • Choose your preferred AI model
  • Upload and analyze unlimited images and files
  • Receive $5/month in API credits

Use Cases 

Here are some of the use cases of Perplexity AI:

Educational Assistance

Perplexity AI helps students and teachers in schools and universities. Students can use it to understand difficult topics, solve math problems, and write essays more easily. For example, if students have questions about physics or biology, they can ask Perplexity AI for explanations or simulations. This aids in their learning.

Teachers can also use Perplexity AI to plan lessons and find educational materials. It can help grade assignments. They can give feedback based on specific criteria, which saves time and ensures fair grading.

Professional Development and Learning

Professionals in different fields can benefit from Perplexity AI. They can stay updated on industry trends and new developments. For instance, marketers can use it to learn about digital marketing strategies or market trends. It provides articles, case studies, and expert opinions. This helps professionals make informed decisions and stay competitive.

Perplexity AI also supports professionals in finance, healthcare, and technology. It provides tutorials, explains complex concepts, and offers practical examples for skill development.

Content Creation and Optimization

Digital marketers and content creators use Perplexity AI to generate ideas, write engaging content, and optimize it for various platforms. They can input specific requirements, like tone and audience. Perplexity AI then suggests content ideas, headlines, and social media posts accordingly.

Additionally, Perplexity AI assists in SEO by suggesting keywords. It analyzes competitor strategies and recommends improvements based on current trends. This helps marketers improve their content quality and effectiveness.

Research and Data Analysis

Researchers use Perplexity AI for in-depth research and data analysis. It retrieves information from academic journals, government publications, and databases. It helps researchers explore scientific discoveries, economic trends, and societal issues.

Perplexity AI summarizes findings, visualizes data trends, and provides statistical insights. This helps validate hypotheses and draw data-driven conclusions. It also performs sentiment analysis and text classification to understand public opinion and identify emerging trends.

Customer Support Automation

Businesses use Perplexity AI in customer support to provide fast and personalized assistance. It acts as a virtual assistant or chatbot. It answers common questions, troubleshoots issues, and guides customers through product inquiries.

Perplexity AI understands customer queries, provides accurate information, and escalates complex issues to human agents when needed. This reduces response times. It enhances customer satisfaction and helps businesses improve their support services.

Growth and Impact

Perplexity AI, launched in August 2022, has quickly become a major player in the AI market. It is expected to reach about $985.24 billion by 2024, growing at a rate of 47.5% per year. Since its start, Perplexity AI has achieved significant milestones and influenced various sectors worldwide.

User Adoption and Traffic Metrics

As of 2024, Perplexity AI has around 10 million active monthly users. Throughout 2023, the platform handled over 500 million search queries, showing its growing usefulness and user engagement. In February 2024 alone, Perplexity AI had over 50 million visits, a big 23.79% increase from the previous month. The platform is popular, with a global website rank of 1,712.

Global User Distribution

Geographically, Perplexity AI has a large user base in Indonesia (24.78%) and India (22.16%), with the United States making up 16.22% of users. The platform reaches many regions, showing its appeal across different groups and places.

Device Preferences

Most users access Perplexity AI on mobile devices, with 63.53% on mobile compared to 36.47% on desktop. This trend highlights how easy it is to use Perplexity AI, especially where mobile devices are more common.

User Engagement Metrics

On average, each Perplexity AI user spends about 23 minutes and 10 seconds per visit on the platform. The bounce rate, which shows user interest, is 62.63%, and users view about 1.81 pages per session. These numbers show that Perplexity AI competes well with major internet platforms in keeping users interested and involved.

Financial and Staffing Growth

In January 2024, Perplexity AI was valued at over $520 million after a successful Series B funding round raised $73.6 million. This funding, combined with previous investments totaling $99.2 million, shows that investors trust the platform and support its growth. Currently, Perplexity AI has 38 staff members, with plans to increase to 60 by the end of 2024, indicating ongoing growth and expansion.

Perplexity AI’s rapid growth, with increasing user adoption, strong website traffic, solid financial backing, and a growing workforce, positions it as a key player in the evolving AI field. As demand for AI solutions continues to grow, Perplexity AI is well-placed to take advantage of new opportunities. This solidifies its role as a leader in AI-driven search and answer engines.

Discover why millions trust Perplexity AI for accurate, real-time answers. Ready to explore? Visit our website for more!

FAQs

  1. Does Perplexity AI have a browser extension? 

Yes, Perplexity AI offers a Chrome extension that allows users to quickly summarize web pages and ask questions while browsing.

  1. Can Perplexity AI generate images like Midjourney or DALL-E? 

Perplexity AI can generate images, but its capabilities are not as advanced as Midjourney or DALL-E. The feature is available in the Pro plan.

  1. Is Perplexity AI free to use? 

Yes, Perplexity AI has a free plan with unlimited Quick Searches and five Pro Searches per day. The Pro plan offers more features for $20/month.

  1. Does Perplexity AI store user search history? 

Perplexity AI allows users to save their search history, but privacy settings can be adjusted to manage data retention.

  1. Can Perplexity AI replace traditional search engines like Google? 

While Perplexity AI provides real-time, AI-powered search results, it may not fully replace Google for in-depth searches that require extensive indexing.