‘We’re not here to sell you another ChatGPT’: Confused AI CEO

Every day – and many times a day – someone, somewhere is posting a new AI chatbot, hoping to take advantage of the global technological sensation born last year of the ChatGPT startup. But Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity AI, will be the first to tell you that chatbots are passé and the world doesn't need another clone of OpenAI's flagship AI model.

“We want to make it clear to the end user that we are not here to sell another chatbot and an alternative to ChatGPT,” Srivas told Decrypt. “We're here to help answer any questions, and that's why we're calling [Perplexity] “Response Engine”

According to Srinivas, the answer engine feature comes from Perplexity AI's main differentiator, which is to provide comprehensive answers that include links to available information.

Founder Srinivas says his academic background shaped Perplexity's design, noting that every statement in academia needs a citation for credibility on paper.

We took that to heart, ‘What if a product was always built based on real facts instead of making things up and saying whatever it wanted?

To help with its goal of creating a better AI-powered search experience, Perplexity announced on Thursday that it has raised $74 million in Series B funding led by venture capital firm IVP. According to Srinivas, the money will go towards expanding Perplexity to handle the steady increase in users that the platform has seen since its launch two years ago.

“The world was really excited about Chatgpiti,” says Srinivas. But it's not like we have to chatbot everything – that might not even be the best user interface for search.

While Perplexity is designed to provide a series of responses to a question, Srinivas says the company aims to improve its AI to a point where follow-up questions are less important, demonstrating a deeper understanding of the user's needs from the first response.

Perplexity AI was launched in August 2022 by a team of developers and engineers from OpenAI, Meta, Quora and Databrick, all led by Srinivas, Dennis Yarats, Johnny Ho and Andy Konwinski.

Others joining the funding include NEA, Elad Gil, Nat Friedman, Databricks, NVIDIA, The Bezos Expeditions Fund, Tobi Lutke, Bessemer Venture Partners, Naval Ravikant, Balaji Srinivasan, Guillermo Rauch, Austen Allred, Factorial Funds and Kindred Ventures.

As companies race to develop AI models that work for everyone, Srinivas says Perplexity is model agnostic and uses whatever model works best for them and their users.

“We don't have a proprietary mindset; We choose the most suitable for each task. Our goal is to evolve our model to fit our unique product, which may not be best for every situation,” Srinivas said.

Srinivas says this model-agnostic approach allows Perplexity to adapt and use the most effective model for each use case, ensuring the best results.

“It's a good place to be where you don't have to deal with any model supplier,” he said.

The proliferation of generative AI tools following ChatGPT's launch has led many to liken the emerging technology to a nuclear arms race – and fears of AI disruption range from losing its livelihood to complete extinction.

In November, xAI CEO Elon Musk predicted the end of the modern workforce due to artificial intelligence.

“For the first time, we're going to have something that's smarter than the smartest person,” Musk said. “It's hard to say exactly what that time will be, but there will come a time when you don't need a job – if you want to have a job for personal satisfaction, you can have a job, but AI can do everything,” he said.

Srinivas said that despite the hype around generative AI, he is optimistic about the future of the technology.

“I feel optimistic. However, I have a very different perspective on generative AI than most people. “My view of generative AI is that we shouldn't see it as a human-replacing agent, but as a tool. That's what confusion means.

“I want Perplexity to be like the toaster you use in your house, and you don't even care why it's there, you just use it,” he said. AI Samantha from the 2013 movie “Her”.

Instead, Srinivas says, an AI should be non-judgmental and always ready to respond and help whoever gets in the way to learn new lessons — and not be an AI's girlfriend or boyfriend.

Srinivas said he is happy to have Perplex by sticking to the basics.

“That's not the vision we have here,” he said. “I'm happy to do the boring job of being the most accurate answer engine in the world, and that can actually be right all the time.”

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.