What Is Perplexity AI? How It Works & How to Use It

Perplexity AI, launched in 2022, is an advanced search engine that pulls information from multiple sources and gives you direct answers with sources attached.

One of the core features of Perplexity AI is its ability to provide innovative solutions in search and information retrieval through its essential characteristics and functionalities.

Perplexity AI understands that nobody has time for those long lists of links (and seriously, who’s clicking on page two?).

Quick Overview Of Perplexity’s Recent Developments and Impact

• Show Me The Money: Perplexity AI raised $500M, valued at $9B.
• Riding the Rocket: The company has seen 700% growth in revenue and usage this year.
• Joining the Mac Club: In October 2024, Perplexity launched a Mac app.
• Keeping Up with Politics: Perplexity launched Election Hub for real-time 2024 US election queries.
• Numbers Don’t Lie: Perplexity AI had 67.42 million visits, with users spending 11 minutes per visit.

These updates make it pretty clear that Perplexity AI is crucial for people who want quick, easy information without the usual Internet chaos.

It’s worth keeping up with Perplexity’s progress—not just to stay informed but also to figure out all the tricks this tool has up its sleeve.

This article provides a full look at how Perplexity AI works and the best way to use Perplexity AI.

Let’s get started.

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What is Perplexity AI?

Perplexity AI is an AI-powered search engine that provides accurate answers, trusted, and real-time responses to any question.

Founded in August 2022 by Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski, the company is based in San Francisco, California.

Perplexity AI utilizes large language models (LLMs) to generate conversational responses, citing sources within the text to ensure transparency and reliability.

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How Perplexity AI Works

Using real-time internet searches and the latest language models, Perplexity AI delivers information in a conversational and human-like way.

Machine learning plays a crucial role in enhancing the functionality of Perplexity AI, allowing it to interpret user queries effectively and provide accurate, context-aware responses.

Here are some answers to your questions on how Perplexity AI works:

Understands Your Question with Natural Language Processing

Perplexity AI uses advanced Natural Language Processing (NLP) to understand what you mean. It looks at complex language patterns, identifies themes, and captures the full context of your question. This means it can give you answers that are personalized just for you.

Searches the Web And Includes Sources

To be accurate and trustworthy Perplexity AI sources information from a range of reputable and authoritative sources. It scans trusted websites, academic papers, and credible databases to get the information. Each answer has numbered footnotes to the sources so you can verify the information or dig deeper if you want.

Keeps the Conversation Going While Answering Your Questions

Perplexity AI is designed to remember the context of your previous questions in a session. This means it can answer follow-up questions cohesively, and the conversation will feel natural and conversational. It will answer your questions smoothly and continuously.

Learns and Adapts

Perplexity AI learns and improves through user interactions. Each session helps refine its language patterns, adapt to new terminology, and improve its answers. This ongoing learning means the platform stays up-to-date and relevant.

Two Search Models: Quick Search and Pro Search

Perplexity AI has two search modes to suit different user needs:

• Quick Search: For simple questions, Quick Search gives you instant answers by summarising information from indexed sources.
• Pro Search: For complex or detailed questions, Pro Search digs deeper into multiple sources and may ask follow-up questions to refine the search. It gives you comprehensive answers so you get all the information for your multifaceted questions. Free users can do up to 5 Pro Searches a day; subscribers can do up to 600 Pro Searches a day.

Example of Perplexity AI in action

If you ask, “What are the benefits of yoga?” Perplexity AI will:

• Understanding the question: You’re looking for the health benefits of yoga.
• Searching: scanning health websites, medical journals, and fitness resources.
• Summarising the answer: Combining the key points—flexibility, stress reduction, cardiovascular health—into a summary.
• Citing: Footnotes to the original sources so you can verify or dig deeper.

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What Makes Perplexity AI Different

Perplexity AI is different from traditional search engines and other AI models in several ways:

Perplexity AI is a powerful search engine with advanced capabilities, designed to understand complex questions and provide relevant answers from various sources.

Smart Search with Image & File Uploads

Perplexity AI combines large language models (LLMs) with the ability to search the web, gather information from multiple sources, and provide answers.

You can upload images, PDFs, or text files as part of your prompts.

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Get Direct Answers, Not Just Links

Unlike traditional search engines that return a list of links, Perplexity AI gives you direct answers to your questions with a curated set of sources. This saves time and eliminates the need to dig through multiple links.

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Choose from Top Language Models

Perplexity AI allows you to choose from various LLMs like the Default Model, GPT-4 Omni, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Claude 3 Opus, Sonar Large, LlaMa 3.1 models (such as llama-3.1-sonar-small, llama-3.1-sonar-large, llama-3.1-sonar-huge), and in-house models like pplx-7b and pplx-70b.

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Focus and Custom Search

The “Focus” feature lets you specify which sites to search, including Reddit, Wolfram Alpha, academic writing, YouTube, or the entire web. This helps to avoid low-quality or irrelevant sources.

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Spaces for Organizing and Managing Your Searches

Perplexity Spaces are personalized environments where you can organize your searches, files, and interactions with the AI.

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Stay Updated with Real-Time Info & Images

Perplexity AI can provide real-time information like scores in live sports events and generate images for your queries. It also has real-time search through its Sonar model.

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Fast & Flexible Answers Tailored to Your Needs

You can ask Perplexity AI to adapt its answers, like modifying recipes for different serving sizes. It’s known for short and fast answers, often faster than other AI models.

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Why Use Perplexity Over Google or Bing?

Perplexity AI offers unique features and quicker answers, but it cannot fully replace the comprehensive capabilities and functionalities of a traditional search engine like Google or Bing.

Straightforward Answers

Perplexity gives you straight-to-the-point answers instead of a list of relevant links. It pulls in information from multiple sources, so you don’t have to run all over the web to find what you want.

The user-friendly interface of Perplexity AI assists new users in easily navigating and setting up their accounts on the platform, enhancing the overall experience of getting started.

It also digs up related facts and brings them to the surface.

Can Hold a Conversation

This AI is contextual and understands natural language. You can follow up questions with things like "What about..." and "Can you expand on...

Related Topics and Examples

It pulls related topics so you can explore similar issues and gives fabricated examples to help you understand how to apply what it teaches you to your own situation.

Tackling Hard Long-Tail Queries

Perplexity handles unfamiliar user queries and long-tail searches like a pro. You can ask tricky questions that would give traditional search engines heartache.

Additional Features:

• Upload and analyze files, code, and PDFs.
• Narrow your results down to specific sources like academic papers, YouTube videos, or more.
• Keep your research organized with collections.
• Pro subscribers get to choose from multiple AI models.

Better Privacy

Perplexity respects your privacy more than Google does. It collects significantly less user data. It also has incognito mode if you are wondering.

Verifiable Results

Perplexity cites sources so you can see where it got the information. You can then verify the facts right then and there.

Train the AI

Customize the AI's output to fit your use case with custom instructions.

Real-Time Information Discovery

Perplexity's got the latest news, scores, and information perfect for following events and news as it happens.

Niche Use Cases

You can use Perplexity for research, writing content, tracking the market, or a variety of other specialized tasks. It explains code, translates documents, and more.

Ad-Free Experience

No ads! Perplexity doesn't bombard you with useless ads like Google and Bing do. It's a clean, ad-free experience that gets you to answers quickly.

Perplexity has its advantages, but Google and Bing search engines still excel in certain areas. Mainly, they provide a huge list of links for browsing and have infrastructure built for real-time information.

You might want to use them for certain, specific situations. It ultimately depends on what you need the tools for and your personal preferences.

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Perplexity AI vs ChatGPT: What’s The Difference?

Perplexity and ChatGPT—two big AI names in the news lately. Both are helpful tools that can assist with finding information and completing tasks, but they are very different in what they do and how they do it.

Can It Quote You On That?

Perplexity is a star when it comes to citation. It frequently provides sources for the information it gives you, so you can follow up and learn more.

ChatGPT rarely provides citations, making it harder to know what to trust. Sometimes it does when you ask it to. But those sources can also be very different from the information given to you.

Can It Do Multiple Things?

ChatGPT is a master of doing multiple things. It can generate text, tell stories, generate images, and even code. It can have conversations and remember context throughout.

Perplexity can follow up on related questions, but it’s primarily designed to answer factual questions and provide information.

It can’t whip up a tasty ale recipe like ChatGPT can, but it’s not trying to be a creative writing language model!

How You Interact With It

Perplexity is search-based, so it gives you straight answers instead of linking you to pages. This makes it feel more informative and useful.

ChatGPT is chat-based, so it’s designed to feel like you’re having a conversation.

• If you like typing questions into a search bar, you’ll prefer Perplexity.
• If you enjoy chatting with AI, ChatGPT is the way to go.

How Much Does it Cost?

Perplexity is free, at least in its core form. You can pay for additional features, but the basic version is affordable and widely useful.

ChatGPT is also free, but the free version has limits.

You can upgrade to ChatGPT Plus and Perplexity for $20 per month to get things like higher allocation, priority access and features.

What’s New?

There have been a lot of changes, and I promise you’re going to want to stay updated on these new features.

ChatGPT

• GPT-4o: GPT-4o is OpenAI’s newest flagship text, voice, and vision model. It’s basically GPT-3.5 supersized and enhanced in ways we loved about it!
• New and Improved Voice Mode: The voice interface is now lighter and more conversational. It comes in five new voices, understands accents, and speaks in several languages. This is in addition to the various languages it can now translate and offer definitions for.
• 🤫 Fun Fact: ChatGPT can mimic emotions like "scared," "angry," or "happy."
• Table and Chart Features: ChatGPT can now analyze data by uploading files from your cloud storage. You can also interact with tables and view charts in a resizable panel.
• Longer Messages with ChatGPT Plus: If you subscribe to ChatGPT Plus, you’re now allowed up to 40 messages per every 3 hours with GPT-4. (That’s a lot of chatting).

Perplexity

• Internal Knowledge Search: Team knowledge and web results are now combined in search results. You get both internal documents and web pages at the same time.
• Spaces: Spaces is a new AI-powered research and collaboration area where you can customize and fine-tune Perplexity’s AI assistant for specific projects.
• Election Information Center: Perplexity’s Election Information Center provides accurate, up-to-date election information to help preserve faith in democracy. The AI model was trained on high-quality election-related content and can answer questions like “What are the hours for early voting in my area?” or “Who are the candidates in my district?”
• Pages: A newly introduced feature called Pages, currently in beta, allows users to generate entire webpages with relevant images, interactive tables of contents, and options for editing based on prompts they provide. This marks it as a potential alternative to traditional blogs and informational articles.
• Multimodal Perplexity: Perplexity is integrating multiple AI models, including GPT-4o for vision (image analysis) and other models for tasks like data analysis and file processing.
• Pro Search (formerly Perplexity Copilot): Pro Search (formerly Perplexity Copilot) has been redesigned to provide more accurate results and ask follow-up questions.

These are just some of the changes, and both platforms are changing rapidly, so it’s always best to stay up to date.

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How to Use Perplexity AI

Here's a quick guide on how you can use Perplexity. Let's get started.

1. Browsing Perplexity AI Without An Account

You Don’t Need an Account to Browse

You can treat Perplexity AI like a search engine and browse the web without creating an account. Your searches are not tracked, and you won't be able to access your search history or saved queries.

Or Create an Account

But if you want to save searches, customize your profile, and create collections and threads, you should register. Registration is free!

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Ask Your Questions

Type your questions naturally, like you would ask a friend. Perplexity AI will return an answer supported by citations from trusted sources.

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Discover Mode

Discover Mode in Perplexity is a feature that helps users find and explore information easily. It includes a Discover tab that summarizes content from various sources into concise answers, making research quicker.

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Save Your Research

Keep your findings organized with collections and threads. If you have an account, your searches will be automatically saved, and they'll be easy to access later. Perfect for long-term projects or in-depth research.

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Search Your Files

Need to analyze documents? You can upload PDFs, CSVs, and more and ask Perplexity AI about their contents directly from the dashboard.

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2. Customizing Your Search with Focus Modes

Perplexity AI has a range of focus modes to help you narrow or broaden your searches:

• Web Mode: Ideal for everyday surfing.
• Academic Mode: Designed for scholarly articles and research papers.
• Math Mode: Equation and complex math support is here.
• Writing Mode: Essay and report generation assistant.
• Video Mode: Results related to video content.
• Social Mode: Insights from the social media realm.

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3. Quick Search vs Pro Search

• Quick Search: Get fast answers to simple questions.
• Pro Search (Power Search): Ask follow-up questions and filter results.

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How to Set Perplexity AI as Your Default Search Engine

Set Perplexity AI as your default search engine to get instant access to its answered results in your browser's address bar. Here's how to do it in popular browsers, or you can easily download their Chrome extension, which will work in any browser you use.

Google Chrome:

1. Click the three-dots menu icon in the top-right corner of Chrome and select Settings.
2. In the left sidebar, click on Search Engine, then Manage Search Engines and Site Search.
3. Click Add under the Site Search section.
4. Enter the following details:

• Name: Perplexity
• URL: https://www.perplexity.ai/?q=%s

5. Click Add. Then, click the three-dots menu next to Perplexity and select Make default.

Microsoft Edge

1. Click the three-dots menu icon in the top-right corner of Edge and select Settings.
2. Click on Privacy, search, and services, then Address bar and search.
3. Select Manage search engines, then Add.
4. Enter the following details:

• Name: Perplexity
• URL: https://www.perplexity.ai/?q=%s

5. Click the three-dots menu next to Perplexity and select Make default.

Mozilla Firefox

1. Install the "Search Engines Helper" extension from Firefox Add-ons.
2. After installing, click the extension icon in your toolbar.
3. Enter https://www.perplexity.ai/?q=%s as the Search URL.
4. Right-click the address bar and select “Add Perplexity”.
5. Go to Firefox settings > Search > Default Search Engine dropdown > Select Perplexity.

Setting Perplexity AI as your default search engine lets users enjoy quick access to answered results without the hassle of tabs or apps.

There you have it! We hope these tips help you on your Perplexity AI research journey. Happy exploring!

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FAQs: Perplexity AI

What do you use Perplexity AI for?

Perplexity AI is a versatile tool used for:

• Information Discovery and Research
• Content Summarization and Creation
• Educational Support
• Professional Applications
• Creative Assistance
• Code Generation and Technical Support
• Language Learning
• Organizing Information

Is Perplexity better than ChatGPT?

While both Perplexity AI and ChatGPT have their strengths, Perplexity AI may be considered better in certain aspects:

• Information Accuracy: Perplexity AI excels in providing up-to-date, factual information with cited sources.
• Real-time Data: Unlike ChatGPT, Perplexity AI can access current information from the internet.
• Search Capabilities: Perplexity AI functions more like an advanced search engine, making it better for research and fact-finding.
• Source Transparency: Perplexity AI provides citations, allowing users to verify information easily.

However, ChatGPT may be preferred for:

• Creative tasks and content generation
• Open-ended conversations
• Code generation and technical writing
• Broader language understanding and generation capabilities

Key differences:

• Perplexity AI focuses on information retrieval and research
• ChatGPT excels in conversational AI and creative tasks
• Perplexity AI provides more recent and cited information
• ChatGPT offers a more versatile range of applications

Key Features

Perplexity AI's advanced capabilities enhance search query accuracy and quality, making it superior for niche topics and valuable for information discovery.

In conclusion, Perplexity AI is generally better for factual queries and up-to-date information, while ChatGPT is superior for creative and conversational tasks. The choice depends on the user’s specific needs and use case.

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Is Perplexity AI better than Google?

While both have strengths, Perplexity AI offers some advantages over Google in specific areas:

Information Accuracy:

• Perplexity AI provides more precise, fact-based answers
• Offers citations for easy verification of information
• Less influenced by SEO and ads compared to Google

Search Experience:

• Delivers direct answers, reducing the need to visit multiple websites
• Offers a more conversational and intuitive interface
• Provides comprehensive summaries of complex topics

Specialized Queries:

• Excels in handling complex, niche, and research-intensive queries
• Better suited for academic and technical searches
• Offers a more nuanced contextual understanding of user intent

Up-to-date Information:

• Accesses current data from the internet in real-time
• Provides more recent information compared to some AI models

AI Integration:

• Utilizes advanced AI models like GPT-4 and Claude 3
• Offers more sophisticated natural language processing

However, Google may be preferred for:

• A broader range of general searches
• Larger index of web content
• More established infrastructure and resources

In conclusion, Perplexity AI can be considered better for specialized, fact-based queries and research tasks, while Google remains strong for general-purpose searches and its extensive web index.

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Who is Behind Perplexity AI?

Perplexity AI was founded in 2022 by four tech industry veterans:

• Aravind Srinivas - CEO and co-founder
• Denis Yarats - CTO and co-founder
• Johnny Ho - Chief Strategy Officer and co-founder
• Andy Konwinski - Co-founder

Key points about the company:

• Headquartered in San Francisco, California
• Valued at over $1 billion as of 2024
• Has raised $165 million in funding
• Notable investors include Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, and Databricks
• Reached 15 million monthly users in Q1 2024

Perplexity AI uses multiple large language models (LLMs) including:

Their own in-house models based on open-source LLMs, GPT-4, Claude 3.5, Mistral Large, and Llama 3

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How Can I Trust the Information From Perplexity AI?

Perplexity AI is transparent and trustworthy. Each answer has citations with footnotes to the original sources. This way you can verify the information, and the answers are well-sourced and accurate.

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Can Perplexity AI Answer Multi-Part Questions?

Yes, Perplexity AI can handle simple and complex questions. For complex questions, it pulls information from multiple sources, breaks the answer down into key points, and gives a balanced answer.

The Pro Search mode helps it to answer such questions even more thoroughly so even layered questions get detailed answers.