Perplexity's CEO Sees AI Agents as the Next Web Battleground

Perplexity has tapped into the power of generative artificial intelligence--with all its problematic tendencies--in an effort to challenge Google as the dominant way people find information online. The AI search tool rose in prominence in 2024 and was lauded as a promising alternative to Googling. It has been accused by Forbes of plagiarizing its news articles, closely paraphrasing other websites, and hallucinating incorrect information. Despite the furor, Perplexity today says that its service gets 650 million queries per month and is said to be chasing investment that would value the company at 18 billion. The company is pushing AI assistants for mobile devices and working on its own web browser.