Perplexed on Perpelxity.ai, Here is a quick primer
What is Perplexity and Why is it different?
Perplexity, a conversational AI company, is trying to combine the best of LLMs and search to make a more natural search experience. Built on Anthropic’s Claude 2 on leveraged through Amazon Bedrock, Perplexity’s AI asks clarifying questions to understand your intent, eliminating the need for complex prompt engineering. Perplexity has streamlined large model training by combining multiple AI services from AWS. Interesting this is similar to the rumors of ChatGPTs potential pivot to focus on search (if interested read more here A ChatGPT search engine is rumored to be coming next week). By seamlessly integrating generative AI and AWS, Perplexity is trying to make search a natural dialogue and redefine knowledge retrieval.
What’s the problem they are trying to solve?
While large language models (LLMs) have revolutionized AI, they often fall short in their ability to truly understand the nuances of human communication. This is where Perplexity.AI focused, they are offering a departure from traditional LLM-based search engines. LLMs primarily rely on statistical analysis of vast text corpora, Perplexity.AI delves deeper. It leverages advanced natural language processing techniques to grasp the context and intent behind a query, generating answers that are not just informative but also conversational and insightful.
They are building a search engine that understands your questions as a human would – interpreting the subtleties, engaging in clarifying dialogues, and ultimately delivering answers that address your specific needs. This is the essence of Perplexity.AI’s approach, promising a more intuitive and satisfying search experience.
As the lines between information retrieval and conversational AI blur, Perplexity.AI looks poised to help redefine how we interact with information online. Its ability to understand complex questions and provide tailored answers, akin to a knowledgeable human assistant, points to a future where AI-powered search becomes a seamless and personalized experience.
Is this just AskJeeves 2.0?
While at first glance it might look similar to the AskJeeves Model Perplexity is more than just a modern version of Ask Jeeves. While they are both conversational search assistants, Perplexity represents a significant advancement in AI and language model technology compared to the relatively simple pattern matching used by Ask Jeeves.
Perplexity leverages large language models (LLMs) and natural language processing to engage in substantive dialogue, provide detailed analysis and creative output, and tackle complex queries across a vast range of topics. It can understand context, synthesize information from multiple sources, and generate coherent and nuanced responses. In contrast, Ask Jeeves relied on a more limited database of pre-written responses and basic keyword matching.
Perplexity has robust safeguards against generating harmful, biased or explicit content, which earlier systems like Ask Jeeves lacked. Its responses aim to be accurate, truthful and beneficial, citing relevant sources. While Ask Jeeves was a novel concept at the time, Perplexity represents the cutting-edge capabilities of modern AI in natural language interaction and open-domain question answering.
So while Perplexity.ai and AskJeeves share the conversational search interface concept, Perplexity is powered by fundamentally more advanced language AI that allows for deeper, more intelligent and capable interactions compared to the relatively simple technology behind Ask Jeeves in the early internet era.
Does it Compete with Google or OpenAI?
Perplexity.AI throws its hat into the dynamic search engine arena where Google and OpenAI are already established players. However, Perplexity.AI brings something unique to the table: a conversational approach that prioritizes understanding user intent. This could be a game-changer in a landscape dominated by traditional keyword-based searching.
While Google and Perplexity.AI might seem like direct competitors, both vying for the top spot in the search engine hierarchy, their approaches offer an interesting contrast. Google relies on the tried-and-tested method of matching keywords to websites, while Perplexity.AI aims to engage users in a dialogue, delving deeper into the “why” behind their search queries.
But the competition doesn’t stop there. Perplexity.AI also finds itself in the ring with OpenAI, another powerhouse in the AI domain. Both companies leverage the power of artificial intelligence for language understanding and generation. However, Perplexity.AI carves out its niche by focusing specifically on search, whereas OpenAI ventures into a wider range of applications.
So, does Perplexity.AI pose a threat to existing players? Not necessarily. Rather than viewing it as a direct competitor, its presence could be seen as a catalyst for collaboration and innovation. Perplexity.AI’s conversational search could complement existing search engines by offering a more nuanced understanding of user queries, leading to more relevant and personalized results.
Furthermore, integrating with OpenAI’s generative capabilities could pave the way for even more dynamic and interactive search experiences. Imagine a search engine that not only understands your intent but also generates additional information based on your preferences and previous interactions.
The success of Perplexity.AI ultimately hinges on its ability to refine its conversational search, explore sustainable monetization strategies, and expand its capabilities. But one thing’s for sure – its unique approach to search paves the way for a future where information is not just retrieved but actively constructed through conversation. This signals a shift in the search engine landscape, potentially bringing us closer to a future where searching feels more like a natural conversation than a cold, transactional process.
Use ChatOrDie.ai to Compare and Keep up on Perplexity and compare it to all the Others.
Premium Access to the top AI Tools with One Login
Want to Learn more? Here are some good article on Perplexity.ai
1. “A new era of Google search? Ex-Googlers build a conversational AI to compete.” – The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/07/18/perplexity-ai-search-engine-google/
2. “Perplexity: A New Search Engine that Uses AI to Understand User Intent” – Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/leateckie/2023/07/19/perplexity-a-new-search-engine-that-uses-ai-to-understand-user-intent/
3. “Perplexity: A Conversational AI Search Engine That Could Change the Way We Use the Internet” – Inc.com: https://www.inc.com/jason-aten/perplexity-a-conversational-ai-search-engine-could-change-the-way-we-use-internet.html
4. “Perplexity: What is it and how does it plan to compete with Google?” – The Verge: https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/14/23346732/perplexity-search-engine-ai-startups-what-to-know
5. “Perplexity, the conversational search engine, has secured $15M in Series A funding led by SignalFire” – SiliconANGLE: https://siliconangle.com/2023/08/15/perplexity-conversational-search-engine-secured-15m-series-a-funding-led-signalfire/