Tech Desk 
Aug 23, 2024
Perplexity AI plans to introduce advertising on its search app in the fourth quarter, despite facing controversy over plagiarising content from media outlets. The artificial intelligence (AI) start-up dramatically grew, with more than two million downloads and 230 million monthly users. Led by AI-assisted searches, Perplexity AI raised new funding valued at more than $1 billion.
It has faced concerns over how it surfaces content from other sources. Forbes and Wired both reported instances of plagiarism. Perplexity AI said that it changed its Pages feature to better cite sources and update its responses to directly credit outlets.
However, Perplexity AI has also developed a revenue-sharing model so that publishers can make money off its search engine. The company is eyeing having 30 publishers signed up by the end of the year. Advertising would take the form of a cost-per-thousand impressions model, priced over $50.
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The key advertising categories that Perplexity AI would be interested in are technology, health, arts, finance, and food. Related questions can be sponsored, and display ads can also be purchased by the advertisers. The user base is very highly educated, with over 80% holding an undergraduate degree.
The launch of ads within the search app of Perplexity AI comes when AI-assisted search is viewed as one of the central threats positioned against Google. OpenAI has introduced a search engine, and Google unveiled AI-powered summaries. How Perplexity AI grows and its advertising plans would be closely watched by the industry.
