AI Search Engine Perplexity Is Introducing Ads

AI start-up Perplexity has confirmed it is “experimenting” with advertising on its free search engine tool.

This article was written by Sam Shedden and originally published by ReadWrite.

In a blog post shared on Tuesday (Nov. 12), the company reassured users that the platform’s content will not be influenced by its advertisers. It added that by introducing new streams of revenue it will be able to expand in future.

Before this announcement, the company was solely relying on investors and its subscription service Perplexity Pro. Last month it was aiming to raise around $500 million and double its valuation to $8 billion.

What is Perplexity?

Perplexity defines itself as an AI search engine. It answers users’ questions by compiling information from trusted sources including articles and journals. Answers include footnotes and links to the sources.

The new ads will take the form of suggested follow up questions. “How can I use Indeed to enhance my job search?” for example.

These will be clearly marked as sponsored and will start by rolling out in the US this week. As well as Indeed, sponsors so far include Whole Foods and Universal McCann.

The answers to these sponsored questions will still be generated by Perplexity, not pre-written by the advertisers.

“While brands are keen on understanding how their companies appear in AI answer engines like ours, we will avoid duplicating the SEO industry where people are implementing arbitrary tactics to improve their rankings at the expense of user utility,” Perplexity explained.

“We would rather give brands a transparent way to advertise through Perplexity that — rather than attempting to manipulate answers — encourages users to express their curiosity about a brand.”

Not everyone is convinced about the introduction of ads, however. One X user posted: “Oh…no. Perplexity is starting to show ads in their responses. This isn’t just about annoying promotions, it’s about the future of digital well-being.”