Ever feel like you're just buried under this
avalanche of internet information, searching
for that one thing you need in a massive digital
haystack? Oh, totally. And then you finally get
an answer from an AI and you're thinking, hang
on, is this even true? Did it just make that
up? Right. Today, we're going to try and cut
through some of that noise. Yeah, let's do it.
Welcome to the deep dive. Today, we're exploring
a tool that honestly promises to change how you
find and use information. Maybe think of it.
less like a search engine, and more like your
own personal research assistant. We are taking
a deep dive into Perplexity AI. And this really
isn't just another chat bot. It's superpower.
Every answer it gives is backed by real verifiable
sources, like actual receipts. So we'll unpack
what makes Perplexity different, look at its
key features, everything from its intelligent
search to creating interactive dashboards. And
we'll give you some pro tips for mastering it.
Our mission today basically give you the shortcut
to being genuinely well -informed. OK, let's
unpack this core idea then. A lot of people compare
perplexity to maybe a mix of Google and chat
GPT, but what really sets it apart fundamentally.
OK, here's where it gets really interesting.
Unlike some traditional AI chatbots that Well,
sometimes they hallucinate. Which means they
just make stuff up, right? Exactly. The AI makes
up information that isn't real, but says it really
confidently. aims to avoid that because it backs
up every answer with sources. You see where it
got the info. It scans dozens, sometimes even
hundreds of websites, academic papers, social
media. Then it gives you a clear answer, but
also, critically, a clickable list of those sources.
So you can check the facts yourself. No more
second -guessing if the AI is just being confidently
wrong. It kind of shifts the dynamic. So fundamentally,
what's the biggest game changer perplexity brings
to just finding information? It provides verifiable
answers by linking directly to its information
sources. factor. When you land on Perplexity's
homepage it looks familiar, you know, quite clean,
but underneath that calm surface there's a lot
of power packed in. Exactly. Right below the
question box you've got your main options laid
out. There's search for, you know, quick answers,
research for more complex topics that need a
full analysis like deep dive, and labs for actually
building small interactive tools. And you can
even choose the AI brain that answers your question,
which is... What exactly? The AI model, yeah.
That just means the specific artificial intelligence
system used to generate the response. Yeah. You
get to pick. Like who's answering? Yeah. It's
like having a whole team of expert AI minds in
one place. You can pick from top models like
Perplexities on Sonar, maybe Claude from Anthropic,
Google's Gemini, OpenAI's GPT -4, even XAI's
Grok sometimes. Wow. OK. That's quite a roster.
And you can filter your search sources, too,
right? You can tell it to search the whole web
or narrow it down. Totally. Narrow it down to
just academic papers or discussions on places
like Reddit or forums or even finance documents.
It's incredibly precise control. Why is having
all those different AI models in these specific
source filters, why is that so valuable for someone
using it? Well, it offers tailored answers in
depth. really enhancing your research accuracy.
Let's dive into the intelligence search, then.
It's probably its most basic function, but still
really powerful. Way better than just a standard
search engine. Oh, yeah. You just typed your
question in natural language, pretty much like
you're talking to a friend. You can let perplexity
figure out the best AI model, or you can choose
one. Pick your sources. And I like this part.
It shows you the sources it's scanning while
it's thinking. There's a transparency there.
It's great, yeah. So imagine you're launching,
say, a new organic coffee brand in Vietnam targeting
office workers. OK. Suggest a detailed digital
marketing plan for the first three months, including
channels, content ideas, and KPIs with links
to related articles. Pretty complex query. And
what makes that powerful is it's not just hitting
one source. It checks maybe 10, 20 blogs, reports.
It's synthesizing. Right. And it's always up
to date, which is a big deal compared to some
older AI models that had those knowledge cutoff
dates. You're getting current info. And every
bit of information has that little source number
you click to verify. Yep. And it suggests follow
up questions, too, so it keeps the research flowing.
It anticipates what you might ask next. Pro tip
here. Using the discussion source filter. That's
gold. especially if you want to find real opinions,
like what actual consumers are saying, not just
what marketing articles claim they're saying.
Pretty tip. You get the raw feedback. So what's
the key advantage then of this intelligent search
over just using Google or something? It provides
comprehensive, real -time sourced answers, which
significantly reduces bias. Okay, but sometimes
a quick answer isn't enough, right? You need
a full analysis, a proper deep dive. That's where
the deep research feature comes in. This is where,
honestly, the magic happens for big tasks. So
you click the research button instead of search,
put in your complex topic, maybe choose specific
sources like academic if you're writing a paper.
Exactly. Then you wait maybe two or three minutes
and perplexity analyzes dozens of sources, sometimes
over 50, and creates this detailed, well -structured
report. Whoa. Yeah. Seriously, just pause and
think about the computational power needed to
analyze dozens of different sources, pull out
the key info, synthesize it, and structure it
coherently in like minutes. It's like having
a whole research team on demand. Pretty much.
Just for you. So an example, maybe an urban planner
asks, analyze the impact of remote work on urban
development in major Southeast Asian cities after
2025. asking it to cover real estate, transport,
satellite cities, using economic reports, sociological
studies. Exactly. And you get back this structured
report, analysis drawing from maybe 50 plus sources,
specific data points, maybe even charts. But
here's the kicker. You can turn this research
into a page. What does that mean, a page? You
click convert to page, and boom, your report
becomes this really nice looking structured web
article. You could edit it, add images. Publish
it with a public link or just export it as a
PDF. So no web design needed? None. Instant professional
output from your research. How does that deep
research uniquely benefit someone working on,
say, complex long -term projects? It provides
comprehensive structured reports that can be
easily published as web pages. Okay, moving on
to labs. This seems to take perplexity beyond
just research into actual creation, building
small apps or interactive dashboards. Yeah, it's
really cool. It's like stacking Lego blocks of
data to build something useful. For example,
you could prompt it. Create an interactive dashboard
comparing three jobs, software engineer, data
analyst, product manager. show salary by experience,
skills needed, career outlook. And the output
isn't just text, right? It's interactive. Often,
yeah. Interactive dashboards with filters, maybe
small focused applications, or analyses with
actionable insights. And crucially, it's all
built on real data from those trusted sources
it found. So it's grounded in reality, not just
AI invention. Exactly. Makes the applications
much more accurate than purely AI generated stuff.
So what's the core benefit of using perplexity
labs for something like data analysis. It creates
interactive data -driven applications based on
verified sources. OK, let's talk about the Discover
tab. I actually use this quite a bit. A lot of
users find this more useful than traditional
news sites. It's kind of like a smart newspaper
built just for you. How does that work? It looks
at your history. Yeah. Based on your search history
and interests, you tell it. Perplexity suggests
news and topics it thinks you'll genuinely care
about. And instead of just one article, you get
a summary combining info from lots of different
newspapers and websites. Exactly. which inherently
helps reduce bias because you're getting multiple
viewpoints synthesized together. It gives you
a broader picture. And if a summary grabs you,
you can just ask follow -up questions right there
to dig deeper. Yep, instantly. And you can personalize
it heavily. Add companies you follow, specific
locations, sports teams, fine -tune it to your
job. And the mobile app experience for Discover
is good. Really good, yeah. Super convenient
for staying updated when you're on the move.
You get that balanced view easily. So how does
the Discover tab provide a more balanced news
experience compared to just reading one site.
It summarizes news from many sources, offering
diverse viewpoints to reduce bias. Let's talk
spaces. These sound like a powerful way to organize
your workflow, like specialized AI assistance.
Yeah, exactly. Think of them like custom GPTs
and chat GPT, or projects in Claude if you've
used those. Perplexity has some pre -built ones,
but the real power is creating your own custom
spaces. And you teach the AI its role using custom
instructions, a system prompt. That's right.
You give it a system prompt that defines its
personality, its rules, what it should focus
on. This makes sure every conversation within
that space stays on topic and follows your guidelines.
So you could create, say, a sustainable blog
space. Perfect example. Instruct it. You are
a creative content assistant for a blog about
sustainable living. Answers should be practical,
well researched, aimed at beginners. Always provide
actionable tips. You know, honestly, I still
wrestle sometimes with getting those system prompts
just right for really specific tasks. It takes
tweaking. But man, once you nail that prompt
in a space, the efficiency boost is incredible.
And then every question you ask in that specific
space article ideas, stats on plastic pollution,
it remembers the context and follows those rules.
Exactly. It keeps the whole conversation history
and context for that specific project or role.
Super organized. Why is creating a custom space
more efficient than just doing a regular search
each time? It maintains context and follows specific
instructions for focused, ongoing projects. Okay,
automated research updates. That sounds useful.
That's the Tasks feature. Yeah, it's a bit hidden,
but super powerful. You can schedule questions
daily or weekly and choose how you get notified.
Email, mobile app push, even WhatsApp. Wow. So
for a student... This could be huge. Like, a
marketing student schedules a weekly query. Summarize
the most creative and successful ad campaigns
globally from the past week. Focus on TikTok
and Instagram. Totally. And then every Sunday
morning, bam, an in -depth summary lands in their
email. They start the week totally informed with
fresh examples for class or whatever. It's like
automated intelligence gathering. What's the
biggest convenience factor of Perplexity's tasks
feature then? It automates scheduled research,
delivering tailored updates directly to you.
And Perplexity isn't just about searching the
web. The Connectors feature lets it search inside
your other stuff. Like your own files. You can
connect it to Google Drive or Dropbox. Exactly.
Search your personal documents, spreadsheets,
presentations right from Perplexity, ask a question,
and it might pull an answer from your own notes.
That's interesting. And the WhatsApp integration
is really handy, too. You can chat with Perplexity
directly on WhatsApp, get those daily summaries
from tasks, ask quick questions without even
opening the app. And it keeps those chats private.
They don't sync back. Right. That's key. Those
WhatsApp chats stay separate from your main Perplexity
history for privacy. What makes the WhatsApp
integration particularly useful for busy people?
It offers quick access to summaries and questions
on the go, maintaining privacy. Perplexity also
has its own browser. called Comet, integrating
AI right into browsing. Yeah, it's pretty wild.
You can get a quick summary of a YouTube video
while it's playing, think of the time saved.
It instantly analyzes any web page for key points.
It can even test discount codes automatically
when you're checking out online. Whoa. OK. And
it helps with writing emails, filling forms.
Yeah, speeding up those repetitive online tasks.
But a crucial note on security here. With this
kind of automation, You really need to be cautious.
Avoid sharing super sensitive stuff like credit
card details through automated processes. Be
careful with automatic logins. Just be mindful
of the data you're letting it access. So what's
the main benefit Comet Browser offers someone
just browsing the lab normally? It provides AI
-powered summaries and assistance for efficient,
intelligent browsing. And for the builders out
there, the developers, Perplexity offers an API.
This lets you integrate Perplexity's intelligence
into your own custom applications. So things
like automated research workflows, maybe using
tools like Make or Zapier, or custom apps that
need smart search. Exactly. Or maybe content
creation pipelines that need solid fact checking
built in. Here's a really advanced example. Imagine
a system. It takes a topic from your Google Sheet.
sends it to the Perplexity API for deep research,
uses another AI to turn that research into a
podcast script draft, then a text to speech service
turns that into audio. And finally, it emails
the finished podcast file to you. All automatic.
All automatic. From just one topic in a spreadsheet.
That's the kind of integration the API enables.
So who really benefits most from using Perplexity's
API capabilities? Developers and businesses needing
to integrate AI research into custom workflows.
Okay, let's talk plans and pricing. Perplexity
offers a few different options. Yep. The free
plan is honestly really generous. You get unlimited
general searches and you get three pro searches
every four hours. That gives you a good taste
of the deep research in the labs features, enough
to kick the tires. And then for more power, there's
the Pro plan at $20 a month. Right. That unlocks
unlimited Pro searches, gives you more citations
and the answers, full access to the Comet browser,
labs, image generation capabilities, and even
some API credit included. That's for people really
using it heavily. And then there's a Pro Max.
$200 a month? Yeah, that's for folks who want
the absolute cutting -edge models, early access
to new features, video generation, priority support,
and then, of course, customizable enterprise
plans for businesses. For someone thinking about
upgrading from free, what's the main advantage
of going pro? It offers unlimited advanced searches
and access to premium features like Comet and
Labs. Finally, let's talk pro tips to get the
most accurate answers how you frame your search.
That's really crucial, isn't it? Absolutely.
Be specific. Don't just ask what is investing.
Try something like, what are safe investment
strategies for a beginner? with $500 in 2024.
Use natural language like you're talking to someone
and always turn on the relevant sources like
academic for papers, discussions for opinions.
And for big projects, maybe start with intelligent
search for an overview, then use deep research
for the heavy lifting. Perfect workflow, then
can vote results to pages for sharing and use
spaces to keep those long term projects organized
and context aware. And to stay updated, use those
scheduled tasks, the personalized Discover tab,
and maybe link to WhatsApp for convenience. Definitely.
Set up those daily or weekly tasks. Use Discover
like your custom news feed. And yeah, link to
WhatsApp for quick hits on the go. Build those
habits. So what's the single most important first
step for getting better results from perplexity?
Be specific with your questions and use natural
language. That's foundational. You know, perplexity
AI really does feel like a significant leap in
how we interact with information. The blend of
intelligent search, that crucial source verification,
and the content creation tools, it makes it incredibly
versatile. Totally agree. Whether you just need
a quick, accurate answer you can trust, or a
full research report or an interactive application,
or just those automated updates, there's probably
a feature in there for you. It's like a Swiss
army knife for knowledge. We definitely encourage
you listening to start with the free plan. Just
try it out. See what it can do for your work,
your studies, maybe just your general curiosity.
Yeah, kick the tires. And if you find yourself
really leaning on those advanced features like
deep research or labs, then that pro plan is
likely a very worthwhile investment in your own
sort of intellectual toolkit. Always remember,
and this is important, while perplexity is incredibly
powerful, your own critical thinking is still
your most vital tool. It's the final layer. Use
it as that super smart assistant, you know, gathering,
summarizing information. But the final interpretation,
the meaning, the understanding, that's always
up to you, the human in the loop. So the question
is, what new rabbit hole will you dive into next
now that you've got this verifiable research
assistant basically at your fingertips?