Perplexity bets on brand-sponsored questions to fund its AI search ambitions

Generative AI search engine Perplexity aims to serve ads in the future. Perplexity uses large language models combined with web search to answer user questions based on web sources, including videos, images, and data from partners like Yelp. Perplexity also links sources in the answers and suggests related questions that users might ask. It is for these related questions, which currently account for 40 percent of search queries, that the company plans to introduce native advertising by allowing brands to influence those questions, Chief Business Officer Dmitry Shevelenko told Adweek. The launch will take place in the coming quarters. However, with only ten million users per month, Perplexity still has a long way to go to become relevant to (larger) advertisers. The startup recently raised $74 million in Series B funding from investors including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.