The Curiosity Engine

Perplexity has been killing it...

Today, Perplexity, an AI search engine or really the internet’s “answer engine” raised another funding round from a decked-out set of 46 investors. They’re now valued at a billion, which they totally deserve, and aim to get to 3 billion. That’s what a good product, a great team, and stellar branding get you. I’ve been a user of Perplexity since early this year. It’s one of those products where I instantly understood where, how, and why I would use it, so much so I added it to the home screen on my phone (where I’ve had the same set of apps for like 5 years).

It’s sort of relieving to see a company that’s been able to cut through the noise in this crowded AI market. If you follow Ben’s Bites, you’ll get the daily roundup of all the new AI tools and agents being released (many with awful names). Most are forgettable because no one can possibly try or keep track of every AI thing. Not to mention that many are likely merely chasing the investor and media hype and hoping an audience can figure out the purpose of their product, rather than thoughtfully building.

Then there’s Perplexity. Many say they’re a Google killer because they revolutionize search by getting rid of “searching” through blue links and just giving the user an answer. I first noticed the footnotes (or what I think of as a source bar) at the top of each answer, so anyone can see where Perplexity got its information from. Right there, you can see how this AI establishes itself as a credible machine, by giving full transparency to people as to how it came up with the answer. ChatGPT isn’t amazing at this currently, but it’s also a different product in my mind. I genuinely “chat” with GPT, whereas with Perplexity I get a result I trust.

The product is there, but so is the brand. There’s a great Medium post about how the iconography came about. It shows genuine care for how Perplexity aims to position itself in the market. It feels like a zen garden in space with its minimal colors and Interstellar-like imagery. It’s this boundless visual aesthetic that promotes a very different segment of Perplexity’s product: curiosity. There’s the “answer” portion which gives people the quick result so they can make a fast decision, and then there’s the exploratory side with its “Discover” tab. CEO Aravind Srinivas on Hard Fork mentioned he wanted Perplexity to be the “TikTok of knowledge.” Now, that’s something I can get behind as someone who just wants to learn and learn and learn. Their carefully curated news feed in this tab is pretty good, and they just updated the UI to show these bite-sized stories in a card format that you swipe vertically through (it’s TikTok-esque for sure).

From a branding perspective, this is where they lean and where they should lean. Their product doesn’t just give utility to people, it fosters personal growth, knowledge building, and a “bicycle for the mind.” When I “plex” something (ok, that’s what I think the verb could be), I sort of get this jolt of curiosity, which the engine amplifies with its related/follow-up questions. They’ve built the product around this inner ambitious explorer and it’s changed my behavior a little when I look things up. This is what I love the most about Perplexity — that’s why they’re killing it.

Perplexity in the News:

• AI Search Startup Perplexity Valued at $1 Billion in Funding Round - Bloomberg

• Perplexity is raising $250M+ at a $2.5B-$3B valuation for its AI search platform, sources say - TechCrunch

• Perplexity launches Enterprise Pro - Perplexity Blog

• Will Perplexity Beat Google or Destroy the Web? - Hard Fork (NYT)

Other Interesting stories:

• The Strikes Are Over, But Hollywood Isn’t Back to Normal - Bloomberg

  • Lucas Shaw does a great dive into some of the structural problems blocking Hollywood from getting back in the swing of things.

• How the Port of LA Transformed an Industrial Site into an Idyllic Waterfront Park - Fast Company

  • A nice read about a new sustainable development by design firm Sasaki.

• Participant, Maker of Films with Social Conscious, Calls it Quits - NYT

  • Founded by Jeff Skoll and positioned as the social-impact studio, Participant Media is shutting down. I interned there twice as part of their SoulPancake division (Rainn Wilson’s production company) which also sunset a few years back. It’s tough to sell positivity, sadly.

    • Our former SoulPancake CEO wrote a thoughtful note about it here.

• How Investors Are Using SPVs to Buy Stakes in OpenAI and Anthropic - The Information

  • I hadn’t heard of SPVs before, so this is an interesting stock tactic used many for AI companies now.

• Talent agency CAA tests AI clones of artists - Perplexity Discover

  • “CAA Vault” is a new division where they’re attempting to get ahead of the AI curve. It would interesting to see how their clients are taking this, but it’s also one of the more tech-forward things I’ve seen from a Hollywood legacy behemoth.