Perplexity: We tried the new AI search engine designed to trump Google

Artificial intelligence has come a long way since the days of being an ominous sounding threat in science fiction/disaster movies. Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Tech giants like Microsoft, Nvidia, Google and Apple have fully embraced the AI-revolution in 2024.

Advertisement Advertisement It can feel hard to keep your head above water as you are bombarded from all sides with so many headlines and announcements about AI tools. From ChatGPT, DALL-E and Midjourney, it feels like a new shiny option is shoved in front of you every couple of days. The latest company looking to harness the power of artificial intelligence is Perplexity, which is attempting to take on Google at its own game.

But can an AI offer a better search engine experience than the default options? Let’s find out: The latest attempt at dethroning Google at the top of the search engine perch, Perplexity launched in 2022 and uses artificial intelligence to scour the internet to provide the answers to your queries. The San Francisco based company has set the lofty goal of making “searching for information online feel like you have a knowledgeable assistant guiding you”. In layman’s terms, it is a bit like a fusion between Google and a chat bot.

Ask Perplexity a question and it will come back to you with an answer. Advertisement Advertise.