Among all the options users have for AI and search engines, Perplexity is on the rise. Here is how Perplexity works and the company that started it.
Given the dominance of the Google search engine, it’s easy for smaller competitors to go unnoticed. While alternative search engines exist, many users are perfectly happy remaining within Google’s ecosystem. After all, Google Search is the default for Chrome, the world’s leading web browser, and comes preinstalled on most Android devices. Opting out of Google’s ecosystem requires a concerted effort that many of us aren’t willing to undertake unless there’s a compelling reason to do so.
That’s where Perplexity, also known as Perplexity AI, comes in, presenting an alternative to Google and other traditional search engines. The AI-powered search engine takes a conversational approach to internet searches, leaving behind the algorithm-based, keyword-driven model that has been dominant for so long. Instead of supplying users with long lists of links to websites to troll through in hopes of finding answers, Perplexity gives conversational answers supported by credible sources — a big departure from hallucinating AI chatbots known for providing inaccurate responses or outright lying.
While Perplexity still has a long way to go before it makes a significant dent in the search-engine market, it’s already one of the most-used AI tools. And if the company has its way, it will one day replace Google as the search engine of choice for those seeking fast, accurate answers to their search queries.
