Perplexity Wants To Help You Find Better Answers On The Internet | Forbes
TLDRIn this Forbes interview, Kenrick Kai, a staff writer and editor of the AI 50 list, speaks with Arvin, the co-founder and CEO of Perplexity, a company that has made a significant impact on the AI industry. Arvin shares the origin story of Perplexity, which was founded in August 2022, driven by a vision to build AI natively as a business. The company's product is an AI-powered answer engine that provides fact-based responses supported by citations, akin to academic research or journalistic standards. Unlike traditional search engines, Perplexity engages in a conversational manner, allowing users to ask questions directly and receive detailed answers. The tool has gained popularity among business leaders for its ability to handle complex queries efficiently. Arvin discusses the company's growth, the importance of user engagement, and the potential for Perplexity to change user habits and become an integral part of their daily routine, aiming for the 'toothbrush test' standard set by Larry Page, which suggests a product should be used at least twice a day. The interview also touches on how Arvin personally uses Perplexity in his day-to-day life for quick and reliable information retrieval.
Takeaways
- 🔍 **Perplexity as a Search Tool**: Perplexity is used primarily as a search engine that provides direct answers to questions without the need for clicking through links.
- 🚀 **Professional Background**: Arvand Shra, the CEO of Perplexity, has a strong background in AI, having worked at OpenAI and Google before starting his company.
- 💡 **Origin Story**: Perplexity was founded in August 2022, with the vision to build a product that leverages AI natively as a business, inspired by the success of startups like Copy AI and Jasper.
- 🌐 **Web-Wide Search**: The initial idea was to create a product that could search over databases and tables, but it evolved into a more ambitious goal of searching the entire web.
- 📚 **Academic Approach**: Perplexity incorporates academic principles, ensuring that all answers are fact-based and supported by citations, much like peer-reviewed papers.
- 💼 **Business Leaders' Interest**: Notable business leaders such as Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang and Shopify's CEO Tobi Lutke have shown interest in using Perplexity.
- 🤖 **Conversational Interface**: Perplexity allows users to have a natural conversation with the AI, asking questions and receiving answers, which is a fundamental shift from traditional keyword-based search.
- 📈 **Growth and Usage**: Since its launch, Perplexity has seen significant growth in usage, handling millions of queries daily, which is crucial for improving the AI's performance.
- 📈 **User Habits and Innovation**: The ultimate goal for Perplexity is to change user habits and become an integral part of their daily routine, aiming for the 'Larry Page toothbrush test' of being used at least twice a day.
- 📝 **Personal Use**: Arvand Shra uses Perplexity daily for various queries, finding it particularly useful for summarizing information that would otherwise require visiting multiple sources.
- 🛠️ **Complementary to Google**: Perplexity is not intended to replace Google but to complement it, providing deeper answers to complex questions while Google remains the go-to for quick navigation.
Q & A
What is Perplexity and how does it differ from traditional search engines like Google?
-Perplexity is an AI-based answer engine that provides direct answers to questions, supported by citations and references, similar to academic research or journalistic standards. Unlike Google, which primarily uses keywords and returns links to web pages, Perplexity engages in a more conversational interaction, allowing users to ask questions naturally and receive fact-based responses without the need to sift through multiple links.
How did the idea for Perplexity originate and what was the motivation behind its creation?
-The idea for Perplexity originated from the founder's interest in startups and the realization that AI could be built natively as a business. The motivation was to create a product that leverages AI models to provide accurate and real-time information, inspired by the success of other startups like Copy AI, Jasper, and GitHub Copilot, which built successful products on top of open AI models.
Who are some notable users of Perplexity?
-Notable users of Perplexity include Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang and Shopify's CEO Toby Lütke, indicating that the tool has caught on with business leaders.
How does Perplexity ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information it provides?
-Perplexity ensures accuracy by operating on principles similar to those used in academia and journalism, where every piece of information is backed by citations and references. This approach helps maintain a high standard of factual correctness in the answers provided by the AI.
What is the current usage of Perplexity in terms of the number of queries it receives daily?
-Perplexity receives single-digit millions of queries daily, which is a significant increase from the initial 2,000 queries on the first day of its launch.
How does Perplexity plan to achieve success and change user habits?
-Perplexity aims to change user habits by becoming an integral part of their daily routine, with the goal of passing the 'Larry Page toothbrush test,' which means users would ideally use the product at least twice a day. The plan is to start with once a day and then build from there, potentially innovating new business models around AI answer engines.
In what ways does the CEO of Perplexity use the tool in his daily life?
-The CEO uses Perplexity for various purposes, including looking up statistics on funded companies, historical funding rounds of companies like Facebook, and making informed decisions for personal events like choosing a location for a proposal or finding the right shoes for winter to prevent slipping.
What is the business model that Perplexity is looking to innovate upon, drawing inspiration from Google's AdWords?
-While the specific business model is not detailed in the transcript, the CEO expresses a desire to innovate and build new business models around AI answer engines, similar to how Google's AdWords revolutionized online advertising with high margins and scalability.
How does Perplexity handle the vast amount of information on the web?
-Perplexity does not aim to recreate the entire web index like Google. Instead, it focuses on scraping and prioritizing parts of the web that are essential for day-to-day question answering, building its crawlers and data set based on the importance of pages for accurate fact-based responses.
What is the role of AI in the daily work routine of a Forbes staff writer?
-The Forbes staff writer uses AI tools like Perplexity primarily as a search tool to quickly find information and answer complex questions without having to manually search through multiple links. However, for writing tasks such as memos or messages, the writer prefers to write them personally, finding auto-complete style writing to feel unnatural.
How does Perplexity's approach to providing answers with citations differ from traditional search engines?
-Perplexity's approach is more akin to academic research or journalistic standards, where each answer is supported by citations and references, ensuring a higher level of accuracy and reliability. Traditional search engines like Google provide a list of links to web pages, requiring users to verify the information themselves.
What are some of the challenges that Perplexity faces in becoming a widely used tool?
-Some challenges include changing user habits to adopt a new way of searching for information, achieving a level of usage where people rely on it at least twice a day, and differentiating itself from established search engines like Google, which offer instant results and a vast index of the web.
Outlines
📝 AI and Writing Preferences
The speaker discusses their personal preference for not using AI for writing tasks, such as memos or messages, as they find it unnatural. Kenrick Kai, a staff writer at Forbes and editor of the AI 50 list, interviews Arvin, the co-founder and CEO of Perplexity, a company that has recently joined the list. Arvin shares his background, having worked at OpenAI and Google, and the inspiration behind starting Perplexity in August 2022. He talks about the evolution of AI and its integration into business models, as well as the influence of successful AI-driven products like GitHub Copilot.
🔍 Introducing Perplexity: A Fact-Based Answer Engine
Perplexity is introduced as a search engine that provides direct answers to questions, supported by citations and references, much like an academic paper. The tool is favored by business leaders for its ability to deliver fact-based, real-time information. Unlike traditional search engines, Perplexity allows for a conversational interaction, enabling users to ask questions naturally. The speaker highlights the product's growth in usage since its launch and its potential to change user habits, aiming to become an integral part of users' daily routines.
🚀 Personal Use of Perplexity and AI Tools
The speaker shares how they use Perplexity daily for various queries, emphasizing its efficiency in providing quick and accurate answers. They also mention using other AI tools like Dolly for slide presentations and brand design iterations. However, they prefer to write their own content, finding auto-complete style writing to be unnatural. The interview concludes with a discussion on how Perplexity has transformed their work at Forbes, primarily as a search tool, and the potential for AI to innovate new business models.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Perplexity
💡AI
💡Search tool
💡Autocomplete
💡Startup
💡OpenAI
💡Product experience
💡Investors
💡null
💡Fact-based answer engine
💡Larry Page's toothbrush test
💡Query
Highlights
Perplexity is used as a search tool to find better answers on the internet.
Kenrick Kai, a staff writer at Forbes, interviews Arvin, the co-founder and CEO of Perplexity.
Arvin's professional background includes working at OpenAI and Google before starting his company.
Perplexity was founded in August 2022 with the aim to build AI natively as a business.
The company's origin story is rooted in Arvin's interest in startups and the changing landscape of AI readiness for products.
Perplexity is different from Google as it provides answers supported with citations and references, similar to academic standards.
Business leaders like Nvidia's CEO Jensen Huang and Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke are mentioned as users of Perplexity.
Perplexity aims to change the search paradigm by providing a more natural conversational interface for information seeking.
The product has grown significantly since its launch, receiving millions of queries daily.
Perplexity's success is not predicated on Google's failure but rather on its ability to pass the 'Larry Page toothbrush test'.
The company focuses on fact-based question answering and prioritizes the domains on the web for effective search.
Arvin's personal use of Perplexity includes looking up statistics and historical funding information of companies.
Perplexity is also used for more practical, everyday queries like finding the right shoes for winter conditions.
The ultimate ambition for Perplexity is to change user habits and become an integral part of daily routines, similar to brushing teeth.
Arvin envisions building new business models around AI answer bots that could rival the success of Google's AdWords.
Perplexity's current usage is measured in the number of queries, which is a more accurate reflection of engagement than just tracking users.
The product's ability to answer deeper questions and provide fact-based responses sets it apart from traditional search engines.