That's a surprisingly strong endorsement of Perplexity that may make me take another (third or fourth) look at them.
Funnily enough, Perplexity was my first ever experience with AI-powered search, well before Microsoft pulled GPT-4 into Bing Chat. I even shared it with some friends as "a glimpse into the future of search." Then I kind of navigated over to GPT-4-powered Bing for a while. Then some article (or video) encouraged me to install the Perplexity extension, which brings up Perplexity on any page you're browsing and allows you to chat with it. I didn't quite get to incorporate it into my routine and eventually uninstalled it.
Since I also mention Perplexity's new offerings (like "online LLMS") in my articles, I regularly go to Perplexity Labs to test out the available models. But at no point did Perplexity become my go-to tool.
In your opinion, what exactly makes Perplexity outshine Google and Bard (which also attempt to browse the web for their answers and provide sources for them)? Is it the interface/ease of use? Is it the quality of sources? Is it fewer hallucinations?
I'm very tempted to give Perplexity another go after reading this!
That's a great analysis. It's probably worth mentioning that I don't use Edge as my default browser (or Bing as my default search engine) - otherwise, I think I'd probably use Bing a lot as well.
Perplexity isn't my default LLM - that's still GPT-4. But I find when I'm specifically in the mode of researching an article or idea, I'm able to quickly explore the idea space without having to open a ton of tabs, and I'm also able to look back at my conversation history and pull things into my notes.
I also still use Google for loads of searches (muscle memory is a hell of a drug), but specifically when I'm in this information-gathering mode, Perplexity is a much better workflow for me. I guess that's the key takeaway here - *as a research tool*, Perplexity is far more efficient than other things that I've tried.
As for why I don't use Bard? For starters, it's just worse: https://g.co/bard/share/3fe384154e40. But there's also an issue where I've siloed most of my AI-related work into a separate Google Workspace account, and they haven't given me access to Search Labs stuff yet - so I have to add context switching on top of that.
I stand corrected - I can absolutely see a use case for this API now. I'm a little shocked that I haven't seen more people talking about this? Like, this seems like one Reddit post away from going viral.
Definitely let me know what you think! I mentioned in another comment that it's not my default LLM, but it does a very specific task (researching new posts and ideas) incredibly well.
I feel like I've personally learned the craft of verifying info on ChatGPT so much that it's just default for me now. Everything important gets fact checked 100% of the time, and I find I can do about 10 hours worth of research in about an hour and some change today. My only concern with a new platform you're supposed to be able to trust more, is that folks will trust it too much more.
Haha I actually edited out a paragraph about this! Yes, I've actually had to un-learn habits from ChatGPT of not asking fact-based questions. I at least take some comfort in knowing that I can refer back to the primary sources at the end of the day, and if something doesn't make sense or I need more context I'll usually click through.
Great article, thanks for sharing. I've been using Bing Chat since it was released in a similar way that you described. I agree that it changes the whole dynamics of searching and increases productivity. I'll test Perplexity too, looks amazing.
For sure! I mentioned this in another reply, but I don't use Edge as my default browser (or Bing as my default search engine) - otherwise, I think I'd probably use Bing a lot as well. If you're super comfortable using Edge, I actually don't know if there's a compelling reason to switch to Perplexity unless you want to save and categorize your research notes like I do.
That's a surprisingly strong endorsement of Perplexity that may make me take another (third or fourth) look at them.
Funnily enough, Perplexity was my first ever experience with AI-powered search, well before Microsoft pulled GPT-4 into Bing Chat. I even shared it with some friends as "a glimpse into the future of search." Then I kind of navigated over to GPT-4-powered Bing for a while. Then some article (or video) encouraged me to install the Perplexity extension, which brings up Perplexity on any page you're browsing and allows you to chat with it. I didn't quite get to incorporate it into my routine and eventually uninstalled it.
Since I also mention Perplexity's new offerings (like "online LLMS") in my articles, I regularly go to Perplexity Labs to test out the available models. But at no point did Perplexity become my go-to tool.
In your opinion, what exactly makes Perplexity outshine Google and Bard (which also attempt to browse the web for their answers and provide sources for them)? Is it the interface/ease of use? Is it the quality of sources? Is it fewer hallucinations?
I'm very tempted to give Perplexity another go after reading this!
That's a great analysis. It's probably worth mentioning that I don't use Edge as my default browser (or Bing as my default search engine) - otherwise, I think I'd probably use Bing a lot as well.
Perplexity isn't my default LLM - that's still GPT-4. But I find when I'm specifically in the mode of researching an article or idea, I'm able to quickly explore the idea space without having to open a ton of tabs, and I'm also able to look back at my conversation history and pull things into my notes.
I also still use Google for loads of searches (muscle memory is a hell of a drug), but specifically when I'm in this information-gathering mode, Perplexity is a much better workflow for me. I guess that's the key takeaway here - *as a research tool*, Perplexity is far more efficient than other things that I've tried.
As for why I don't use Bard? For starters, it's just worse: https://g.co/bard/share/3fe384154e40. But there's also an issue where I've siloed most of my AI-related work into a separate Google Workspace account, and they haven't given me access to Search Labs stuff yet - so I have to add context switching on top of that.
Makes a lot of sense. I'll see if I can incorporate Perplexity into my routine with some regularity.
Bard's answer to e/acc is legendary! (#facepalm).
https://open.substack.com/pub/marcwatkins/p/perplexitys-new-uncensored-model?r=2l25hp&utm_medium=ios&utm_campaign=post
I stand corrected - I can absolutely see a use case for this API now. I'm a little shocked that I haven't seen more people talking about this? Like, this seems like one Reddit post away from going viral.
Just downloaded to check perplexity out. Glad someone is mentioning the overuse of the word copilot. I'm getting tired of seeing it everywhere.
Great writeup! Looks like I've been sleeping on Perplexity. Going to give them a go based on your ringing endorsement
Definitely let me know what you think! I mentioned in another comment that it's not my default LLM, but it does a very specific task (researching new posts and ideas) incredibly well.
I feel like I've personally learned the craft of verifying info on ChatGPT so much that it's just default for me now. Everything important gets fact checked 100% of the time, and I find I can do about 10 hours worth of research in about an hour and some change today. My only concern with a new platform you're supposed to be able to trust more, is that folks will trust it too much more.
Haha I actually edited out a paragraph about this! Yes, I've actually had to un-learn habits from ChatGPT of not asking fact-based questions. I at least take some comfort in knowing that I can refer back to the primary sources at the end of the day, and if something doesn't make sense or I need more context I'll usually click through.
We evolve around the tools we use!
Thanks for heads up on Perplexity.
Great article, thanks for sharing. I've been using Bing Chat since it was released in a similar way that you described. I agree that it changes the whole dynamics of searching and increases productivity. I'll test Perplexity too, looks amazing.
For sure! I mentioned this in another reply, but I don't use Edge as my default browser (or Bing as my default search engine) - otherwise, I think I'd probably use Bing a lot as well. If you're super comfortable using Edge, I actually don't know if there's a compelling reason to switch to Perplexity unless you want to save and categorize your research notes like I do.