🔍 Perplexity — a neural network for internet search

One of last week's major news was that ChatGPT can now browse the internet. Earlier, we tested how this function works.

However, there is a neural network initially designed as an alternative to the standard search engine — Perplexity.ai

❔ Why should you pay attention?

— Perplexity provides accurate and informative answers to complex questions. For instance, is a Covid-certificate currently required for traveling to the USA?

— We first heard about them from scientist friends who preferred Perplexity over ChatGPT when searching for information to prepare scientific articles. A bit later, investors from Silicon Valley told us about them, describing them as a rising star in AI.

— Unlike a traditional search engine, which responds to queries by providing links, Perplexity summarizes the results to give a direct answer with references to information sources. At the same time, Perplexity works as a chatbot, understands natural language, and can refine context by prompting questions.

✅ Features of Perplexity:
— there's a free version (under the hood is GPT-3.5, which can handle most questions). In the paid version for $20, the "search" operates on GPT-4 or Claude-2;
— no VPN is required for access from non-US/EU countries;
— works quickly;
— provides up-to-date information with links to sources;
— you can upload a PDF document and ask questions about it;
— you can ask questions in your home language, but the answer will most often be in English.

🙂 About the company:
— very young, launched in 2022, located in San Francisco;
— 4 founders: Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski — engineers with experience working at Google AI, Meta, and Quora;
— raised a total of $28.7M in funding over 2 rounds;
— there's information that an API will be available by the end of the year: then we can integrate it into @GPT4Telegrambot

#Perplexity

Useful links:
https://www.perplexity.ai/

https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/perplexity-ai