AI-powered web page summarization is a feature found in many AI-centric tools these days. The next step for some of these tools is to prepare detailed and nicely formatted web pages for search queries. Arc browser does this to some extent through its Arc Search app. Apple is rumored to be releasing its own smart summarization feature for web pages and articles. A recent addition to this trend is Perplexity AI.
With Perplexity Pages, the unicorn aims to enable users to create reports, articles, and guides in a visually appealing format.
Both free and paid users can find the option to create a page in the Library section. Simply enter a prompt, such as “Some information about the Sahara Desert,” and the tool will begin creating your page. Users can choose an audience type, such as beginners, advanced, or anyone, to shape the tone of the generated text.
Perplexity says its algorithm works to create detailed articles with various sections. You can ask the AI tool to rewrite or reformat sections, or even remove them. You can also add sections by telling the tool to write about specific subtopics. Perpelixity also helps you find and insert related media items like images and videos.
All of these pages are publicly viewable and searchable on Google. Links to these pages can be shared with others who can ask follow-up questions about the topic. Users can even turn existing conversation threads into pages with the click of a button.
Henry Modisett, head of design at Perplexity, said the company wants to use its core technology to use Perplexity as a research tool, but in a more shareable format. Interestingly, Modisett worked as a product designer at Quora for over eight years.
“We noticed that users were already sharing their search pages with others, so we wanted to create a format that looked better,” Modisett told TechCrunch over the phone.
He also noted that although the AI engine answers questions instantly and starts forming the page, it takes a few minutes for the tool to finish the page, which makes it difficult for him as a designer to come up with animations that would create a pleasant experience for users while they wait.
There have been multiple reports and ongoing discussions about how AI-generated content will impact areas like blogging, journalism, and the web in general. Perpelixty sees the tool as information curation rather than AI content generation.
“This feature is user curated. [information]”And then it decides what's on that page, how to structure it. All of those decisions are being made by AI, so it's not completely AI-generated, right?” Modisett said.
“Users bring a lot of their own preferences into it, and I don't think everyone can make a great page, so the human aspect becomes very important in terms of decision-making and how to make it interesting,” he added.
But Perpleixty hasn't yet figured out how this will work with other parts of the web ecosystem. Modisett pointed out that, like Perplexity's search results, the page shows different sources and highlights them prominently.
The Perplexity Pages feature will be rolling out to a limited number of users initially, but will eventually be available to everyone. Users will be able to create pages on the web only, but those pages will be visible both on the web and in the mobile app.