Perplexity, an AI-powered search engine, announced it will begin experimenting with ads on its platform starting this week.
The ads will first appear in the U.S. in the form of “sponsored follow-up questions.” (Example: “How can I use LinkedIn to enhance my job search?”) Paid media is placed on the answer side and labeled as sponsored.
Brand and agency partners participating in Perplexity's advertising program include Indeed, Whole Foods, Universal McCann, and PMG.
One of Perplexity's experimental ad formats. Image credit: Perplexity
“Advertising programs like these help us generate revenue that we share with our publisher partners,” Perplexity wrote in a blog post. “Our experience has shown us that subscriptions alone do not generate enough revenue to build a sustainable revenue sharing program. [A]Advertising is the best way to ensure a stable and scalable revenue stream. ”
Perplexity claims that answers to “sponsored questions” are still generated by AI and are not written or edited by the brand sponsoring the question. Advertisers also do not have access to users' personal information, the company said.
“We intentionally chose these formats because they allow us to integrate advertising while protecting the usefulness, accuracy, and objectivity of our responses,” the blog post says. “These advertisements do not change our commitment to maintaining a reliable service that provides direct and unbiased answers to your questions.”
Perplexity's adoption of ads stands in contrast to OpenAI's decision not to release its AI-powered search tool, ChatGPT Search, with ads.