In the crowded field of AI-powered search engines, Perplexity.ai stands out with its unique "search-first" approach. Unlike ChatGPT or Google's Gemini, which primarily rely on their internal knowledge and only turn to the web when necessary, Perplexity prioritizes scouring the internet for the most relevant information before using LLMs to synthesize a comprehensive and informative response. This ensures that users receive the most up-to-date and accurate answers, complete with source links for easy verification. Imagine searching for information on a recent scientific breakthrough – Perplexity will prioritize finding articles and publications on the topic, while ChatGPT might offer a more general overview based on its pre-existing knowledge. Gemini Advanced works the same way, but it does provide source links when it does a search. Anthropic’s Claude doesn’t have web access yet.
Perplexity also suggests related follow up questions, generated with frontier LLMs in the background. Gemini also does this. I’ve found the follow up questions helpful and sometimes leads me to dig deeper into a topic. But the nature of the follow up questions may be changing.
Advertising is a gigantic cash flow. It used to fund free television (including loss leading news) and print media (newspapers, magazines, etc.) Now, it’s the life blood of Internet tech giants. It’s a billionaire maker. It’s not surprising that Perplexity wants to tap into it.
While the initial introduction of ads within search results seems relatively unobtrusive, a more significant change is on the horizon: advertisers will soon be able to inject their own suggested follow-up questions. This raises concerns about transparency and user manipulation. If these sponsored queries are clearly distinguished from the LLM's organic suggestions, the impact may be minimal. However, if users are unable to differentiate between genuine inquiries and cleverly disguised advertisements, it could erode trust and mislead individuals seeking unbiased information.
The success of this strategy depends on Perplexity's ability to strike a balance between monetization and maintaining user trust. It will be interesting to watch, and undoubtedly, industry giants like Google will be closely monitoring the situation.