Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Jeff Bezos Bets on a Google Challenger Using AI to Try to Upend Internet Search
Wall Street Journal ^ | Jan. 4, 2024 5:30 am ET | By Miles Kruppa

Posted on 01/04/2024 11:22:18 AM PST by Red Badger

Perplexity, a startup going after Google’s dominant position in web search, has won backing from Jeff Bezos and venture capitalists betting that artificial intelligence will upend the way people find information online.

Started less than two years ago, Perplexity has fewer than 40 employees and is based out of a San Francisco co-working space. The company’s product, which it calls an answer engine, is used by about 10 million people monthly.

Those ingredients were enough to persuade Institutional Venture Partners, Bezos and other tech executives to invest $74 million in the company, the largest sum raised by an internet search startup in recent years. The investment valued Perplexity at $520 million, including the new money, said Chief Executive Officer Aravind Srinivas.

Amazon.com, the e-commerce company chaired by Bezos, has committed to investing billions in Anthropic, the AI startup behind the chatbot Claude.

The path to competing with Google is littered with carcasses, and Microsoft itself has struggled for years to dislodge the company’s roughly 90% market share in online search. Others, including tech giants, are incorporating AI into their search engines.

Perplexity’s founders said their advantage is using advances in AI to provide direct answers, instead of website links, in response to search queries, without some of the limitations felt by larger companies.

“If you can directly answer somebody’s question, nobody needs those 10 blue links,” Srinivas said. Google has begun rolling out a feature that provides lengthy summaries in response to some search queries, though Google has yet to introduce it widely.

(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: amazon; google; jeffbezos; perplexity; washingtonpost
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last

1 posted on 01/04/2024 11:22:18 AM PST by Red Badger
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: ShadowAce; Swordmaker; dayglored

Ping!................


2 posted on 01/04/2024 11:22:40 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while l aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

But how does the AI search the internet? Bing?


3 posted on 01/04/2024 11:26:53 AM PST by Yo-Yo (Is the /Sarc tag really necessary? Pray for President Biden: Psalm 109:8)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger
Search engines are AI. Bias is built in. How could it be otherwise?
4 posted on 01/04/2024 11:27:33 AM PST by ComputerGuy (Heavily-medicated for your protection)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Yo-Yo

BRAVE already does this...................


5 posted on 01/04/2024 11:28:45 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while l aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

When Perplexity gets big enough, or challenging enough to Google or Bing, they will be bought by either one of those. Bing most likely, since Bing/Microsoft feel like they ‘own’ AI.

Google search will be lessened in importance within 1-2 years.


6 posted on 01/04/2024 11:32:33 AM PST by adorno (CCH)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: adorno

All the AI search engines will eventually merge and become one big search engine that will call itself Omnius...........


7 posted on 01/04/2024 11:35:40 AM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while l aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

If Perplexity wants greater public acceptance, they may consider changing that name.
When I hear the root word “perplexed”, I think
“confused or exasperated”, maybe even flummoxed!”


8 posted on 01/04/2024 11:37:57 AM PST by lee martell
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Will it be better than Alta Vista?


9 posted on 01/04/2024 11:42:07 AM PST by PAR35
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Interview with a former Google engineer:

https://www.brighteon.com/27376022-aab8-4f0c-855c-c5bb72dbb082

Published just yesterday.


10 posted on 01/04/2024 11:49:57 AM PST by Disambiguator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Disambiguator

Wow, ad popups cover the page, an ad video starts blaring, no thanks.


11 posted on 01/04/2024 11:56:01 AM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: ansel12

Don’t you have ad blockers?


12 posted on 01/04/2024 12:06:34 PM PST by Disambiguator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

Bezos has money to throw away, so he is throwing away. Other than that it means nothing. There is only viable to challenger to Google - Bing, who are as good or better than Google but far far behind in market share.


13 posted on 01/04/2024 12:08:02 PM PST by libh8er
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Disambiguator

Yes.


14 posted on 01/04/2024 12:13:35 PM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

FATAL FLAW? Without ad and affiliate revenue to support their sites, publishers have no incentive to keep providing the SOURCE material that Perplexity only exceprts and presents to users. This is the big problem with AI - so long as it does not reward source providers, those providers will become fewer, and AI’s derived “information” will become less relevant or up-to-date.


15 posted on 01/04/2024 12:14:12 PM PST by montag813
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ansel12

I watch stuff on Brighteon all the time and I don’t have any problems. They do advertise on the platform, as they have bills to pay, too.


16 posted on 01/04/2024 12:21:49 PM PST by Disambiguator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Disambiguator

They advertise too much.


17 posted on 01/04/2024 12:22:41 PM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: ansel12

That’s what the slider is for.

😊


18 posted on 01/04/2024 12:26:53 PM PST by Disambiguator
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 17 | View Replies]

To: Red Badger

If only someone would create what Google used to be 21 years ago when we could search for information like scholars.

Today Google search is approaching complete uselessness except for everyday shallow information to buy something or recent trivial and largely inaccurate mentions of important history and research questions.

Many topics you cannot do a search for no matter how you try quote marks or different keywords, you just can’t get to the subject you want.


19 posted on 01/04/2024 12:30:06 PM PST by ansel12 ((NATO warrior under Reagan, and RA under Nixon, bemoaning the pro-Russians from Vietnam to Ukraine.))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ansel12

Yeah, how are we gonna find pR0n now?..................


20 posted on 01/04/2024 12:31:28 PM PST by Red Badger (Homeless veterans camp in the streets while l aliens are put up in hotels.....................)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-23 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson