Perplexity AI Review
I recently switched to Perplexity AI for internet queries instead of my usual options, Google or DuckDuckGo (a popular private search engine, aka DDG), to see how it worked.
Perplexity is a search engine driven by AI technology, utilizing natural language processing. It offers a no-cost option utilizing its in-house language model and a premium version granting access to advanced models such as GPT-4. The paid version boasts additional functionalities like image creation and local file scrutiny.
To start, type in a prompt, such as “hard cider options in Miami,” and get an answer, along with text, maps, images, and related questions. It isn’t much different than Google or DDG, although those sites just gave me a list of websites for this specific query, so Perplexity was more helpful.
However, for more popular queries, such as Taylor Swift or the 2024 solar eclipse, Google does serve content from Wikipedia or verified websites.
However, Perplexity provides content aggregated from several sources, not just websites x or y, and the sources leveraged differ depending on the query. It makes the provided results fresher and more useful than, say, just a summary of Wikipedia.
For example, when I typed “2024 solar eclipse,” Google put NASA’s site at the top and a Wikipedia blurb in the right-hand column. DDG, which sources much of its results from Bing, provided timeanddate.com as its top result and no content. Perplexity also cited NASA as its top source, but it gives a much more helpful narrative summarizing the eclipse, the path of totality, and a safety warning (see examples below).
I found the Perplexity solution more useful. It allowed me to read in one location, like an article, instead of my eyes jumping around the search results page. The answer felt more like a natural conversation you’d have with a person knowledgeable on that topic, with a few related tidbits dropped in.
The big question is: Can you trust Perplexity’s answer? Unlike many AI tools today, it visibly and transparently provides citations in tabs above the content and within the provided text. If I want to visit a web page, clicking one of the boxes at the top of any citation numbers within the content opens that site.
Context Retained
Perplexity understands and keeps context. After the “hard cider in Miami” query, I entered "happy hour.” It provided me with the happy hours of relevant pubs in Miami that served cider, even though I didn’t reference Miami or cider in this specific query (and my VPN is routing me through Salt Lake City).
When I typed “transportation from the airport,” Perplexity provided options from Miami International. Context is never lost.
As a result, I don’t need to leave this one page. I don’t need to visit another site, learn its UX, decipher its random navigation, deal with annoying ads and pop-ups, or constantly scroll, click, and wait for pages to load to find the specific information I need.
What does this all mean?
With Perplexity AI, the user journey starts and stops with one page, which has interesting ramifications. Websites make money on ads, rely on traffic for various internal and external processes and justification, and use cookies to track you and sell that data. Companies spend a lot of money on web design, security, servers, and developers, and third-party apps use traffic to determine how much they charge.
But with an AI search like Perplexity, would I need to visit a company’s site? All AI needs is content to scrape. For all I or AI would care, it could be on a plain white page in Chinese at the source, and it can present it to me in my desired language, answering my specific question and context.
I doubt Google supports/wants this behavioral shift.
One person I spoke to expressed skepticism that an AI search could be trusted with its hallucinations, even with the provided citations. Of course, this assumes AI isn’t already being leveraged to some degree in search when it is.
But why would a consumer trust one approach (Google) over another? The top search results on Google or Amazon Prime are those who paid the most, as is done for product placement in grocery stores or movies. The manipulation has always been there.
And gatekeeping isn’t just for tech or items we purchase. We assume (or hope against hope) that we are provided with options aligned with our best interests when talking to a lawyer, a financial advisor, or a doctor, but studies have shown this is not always the case.
At least Perplexity is transparent with its methodology and citations. Is Google? Are all doctors acknowledging that they will get a kickback from the drug manufacturer for the expensive prescription recommended? Are all financial advisors pushing a strategy acknowledging it helps their commissions?
I ponder the implications of the potential paradigm shift, unable to grasp its far-reaching consequences for consumers and websites that we have learned to rely upon so much.
But for now? I am enjoying Perplexity's efficiency and transparency and not missing Google.