Perplexity.ai

Short description: AI search engine

PerplexityIndustry| Artificial Intelligence

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Genre| Conversational search engine and information discovery platform
Founded| August 2022
Founder| Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski

Number of employees

| ~40 (2024)
Website| https://www.perplexity.ai/

Perplexity AI is a conversational search engine that answers queries using natural language predictive text.[1][2] Launched in 2022, Perplexity generates answers using the sources from the web and cites links within the text response.[3] Perplexity's free product uses its Perplexity model based on OpenAI's GPT-3.5 model combined with the company's standalone LLM that incorporates natural language processing (NLP) capabilities. Perplexity Pro has access to GPT-4, Claude 2, Gemini Pro, and an Expermental Perplexity Model.[4][5][2][6]

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Functionality
* 3 Funding and valuation
* 4 References

## History

Perplexity was founded in August 2022 by Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski.[7] Aravind Srinivas previously worked at OpenAI and now serves as the company's CEO.[8]

In December 2022, Perplexity released Bird SQL which is used to search information on Twitter.[9]

## Functionality

The main product of the Perplexity AI is its search engine, which relies on natural language processing[8] instead of keywords. It interprets the context of the user queries in order to provide more personalized search results. Rather than giving a list of ranked search results, Perplexity summarizes the search results and gives a text with inline citations.[8] It prioritizes newer sources to avoid outdated information. The user can ask follow-up questions and Perplexity will interpret them in the context of the user's previous queries.[9][10][8] The conversation between the user and Perplexity can be saved in the library.[11] It provides apps for IOS[12] and Android[13].

Perplexity provides several modes of searching. The "Copilot" mode asks the user clarifying questions to refine queries. The "Focus" mode sets a topic for queries. For example, if the user wants to search for YouTube videos, they can set the "YouTube" topic. The "Writing" mode generates results without doing the web search.[8]

The user can upload a file for analysis instead of copying and pasting the file's text into the search input field.[8] Besides the text documents, it also accepts file formats like CSV.[11][14]

Perplexity has a Twitter search interface called Bird SQL, which translates queries written in natural language to SQL queries. These queries are then used to retrieve information from the Twitter's database. This tool is intended for the users who may not be familiar with SQL. In order to translate natural language to SQL, Bird SQL uses the OpenAI Codex.[9][15]

## Funding and valuation

Perplexity has raised $73.6 million in a Series B funding round, led by notable investors including Nvidia and Jeff Bezos. This investment, part of the total $100 million raised so far, has contributed to the company's current valuation of $520 million.[16][17][2][18][19] The investors so far include New Enterprise Associates, Nvidia, Databricks, Bessemer Venture Partners, Jeff Bezos, Susan Wojcicki, Jeff Dean, Yann LeCun, Andrej Karpathy and others.[20][21][8][22][19]

Despite this high valuation, Perplexity has fewer than 40 employees.[20] It has garnered about 10 million monthly users.[23]

## References

1. ↑ "What is Perplexity?" (in en). https://blog.perplexity.ai/faq/what-is-perplexity.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "TNB Tech Minute: Startup Perplexity Challenges Google With AI Search - Tech News Briefing - WSJ Podcasts" (in en). https://www.wsj.com/podcasts/tech-news-briefing/tnb-tech-minute-startup-perplexity-challenges-google-with-ai-search/984362d5-a8f0-48b4-8b55-ad7e570a74d2.
3. ↑ "कभी किया था गूगल के साथ काम , फिर खड़ी की 4300 करोड़ की कंपनी, जाने इसके पीछे की पूरी कहानी" (in hi). 2024-01-13. https://samacharnama.com/business/once-worked-with-google-then-built-a-4300-crore-company/cid13304978.htm.
4. ↑ "What model does Perplexity use and what is the Perplexity model?" (in en). https://blog.perplexity.ai/technical-faq/what-model-does-perplexity-use-and-what-is-the-perplexity-model.
5. ↑ (in en) Perplexity AI aims to rival Google, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nkKr7lePp0, retrieved 2024-01-08
6. ↑ Singh, Shubham (2024-01-06). "Perplexity AI raises $73.6M in funding round led by Nvidia, Bezos, now valued at $522M". https://www.businesstoday.in/entrepreneurship/start-up/story/perplexity-ai-raises-736m-in-funding-round-led-by-nvidia-bezos-now-valued-at-522m-412130-2024-01-06.
7. ↑ Schwartz, Eric Hal (2023-11-30). "Perplexity Debuts 2 Online LLMs with With Real-Time Knowledge" (in en-US). https://voicebot.ai/2023/11/30/perplexity-debuts-2-online-llms-with-with-real-time-knowledge/.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 8.5 8.6 Wiggers, Kyle (2024-01-04). "AI-powered search engine Perplexity AI, now valued at $520M, raises $73.6M" (in en-US). https://techcrunch.com/2024/01/04/ai-powered-search-engine-perplexity-ai-now-valued-at-520m-raises-70m/.
9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 Cuofano, Gennaro (2023-09-01). "What is Perplexity AI?" (in en-US). https://fourweekmba.com/perplexity-ai/.
10. ↑ McFarland, Alex (2023-12-26). "Perplexity AI is Google’s Biggest Threat in Future Search". https://www.techopedia.com/perplexity-ai-is-googles-biggest-threat-in-future-search.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Bellouza, Abdelkader (2023-11-17). "How Perplexity AI Works: Comprehensive Breakdown". https://gptpluginz.com/how-perplexity-ai-works/.
12. ↑ "Perplexity - Ask Anything". https://apps.apple.com/us/app/perplexity-ask-anything.
13. ↑ "Perplexity - Ask Anything". https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ai.perplexity.app.android&hl=en&gl=US.
14. ↑ Horsey, Julian (2023-09-06). "How to use Perplexity AI as a research assistant and fact checker". https://www.geeky-gadgets.com/how-to-use-perplexity-ai/.
15. ↑ Pandey, Mohit (2022-12-16). "Perplexity AI Improves Twitter Search with BirdSQL". https://analyticsindiamag.com/perplexity-ai-improves-twitter-search-with-birdsql/.
16. ↑ "Report: Generative AI search startup Perplexity AI seeking millions in venture capital funding" (in en-US). 2023-10-24. https://siliconangle.com/2023/10/24/report-generative-ai-search-startup-perplexity-ai-seeking-millions-venture-capital-funding/.
17. ↑ Griffith, Erin; Metz, Cade (2023-03-14). "‘Let 1,000 Flowers Bloom’: A.I. Funding Frenzy Escalates" (in en-US). The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/14/technology/ai-funding-boom.html.
18. ↑ "Perplexity AI raises $73.6M in funding round led by Nvidia, Bezos, now valued at $522M" (in en). 2024-01-06. https://www.businesstoday.in/entrepreneurship/start-up/story/perplexity-ai-raises-736m-in-funding-round-led-by-nvidia-bezos-now-valued-at-522m-412130-2024-01-06.
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Garfinkle, Allie (2024-01-11). "Perplexity AI’s challenge to Google hinges on something simple but tough—being the best" (in en). https://finance.yahoo.com/news/perplexity-ai-challenge-google-hinges-124622631.html.
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Kruppa, Miles | Photographs by Carolyn Fong for The Wall Street Journal (2024-01-04). "WSJ News Exclusive | Jeff Bezos Bets on a Google Challenger Using AI to Try to Upend Internet Search" (in en-US). https://www.wsj.com/tech/ai/jeff-bezos-bets-on-a-google-challenger-using-ai-to-try-to-upend-internet-search-0859bda6.
21. ↑ "About Perplexity" (in en). https://blog.perplexity.ai/about.
22. ↑ מן, יובל (2024-01-07). "בעזרת בזוס: הסטארט-אפ הקטן שקורא תיגר על אימפריית החיפוש של גוגל" (in he). Ynet. https://www.ynet.co.il/digital/technology/article/ryyea8e00p.
23. ↑ Quach, Katyanna. "AI search engine startup Perplexity raises $73.6M in funding" (in en). https://www.theregister.com/2024/01/05/perprexity_ai_search_engine/.

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