Perplexity pulls advertising from its search engine, calling itself an "accuracy business"

AI startup Perplexity says it has dropped advertising from its search platform because it could undermine user trust. Perplexity was one of the first generative AI companies to test ads back in 2024. By late last year, though, the company started pulling them.

A Perplexity executive told the Financial Times that ads made users start questioning every answer they received. The company sees itself in the "accuracy business" and is betting on subscription plans ranging from 20 to 200 dollars a month instead. Perplexity says it has over 100 million users and is valued at 18 billion dollars.

The move puts Perplexity at odds with some major competitors. OpenAI just started running ads in ChatGPT, and Google shows ads in its AI mode as well. Anthropic has also committed to keeping its chatbot Claude ad-free, even running a Super Bowl spot to make the point. The timing of Perplexity's announcement is also a bit of a marketing play - something the company has done before, like when it offered to buy TikTok and Chrome.