It’s been roughly two years since AI-powered search engines first made their mark on the tech scene, and not long after, they began to introduce ads in their outputs. Bing AI (now Copilot) was the first to experiment with ads, and
Microsoft is still refining its various ad formats in its AI-powered search engine. Recently, ads have started appearing in Google Overview, the AI-generated summaries of Google Search results, and they might eventually make their way to ChatGPT. OpenAI has stated that while they have no immediate plans to incorporate ads,
they’re not ruling out the possibility in the future.
So, it’s not all that surprising that Perplexity AI, the first search engine built from the ground up with artificial intelligence, has also followed suit by introducing ads alongside its AI-generated answers. Founded in August 2022 by a former OpenAI employee, Perplexity AI has quickly become a buzz word in the sphere of technology, enamoured by AI, and an investor darling. With big names like Jeff Bezos backing the company, Perplexity is now
seeking a valuation of $9 billion and hopes to raise $500 million in its latest fundraising round.
Ads in Perplexity AI now appear in two distinct spots: as follow-up questions to the main query, and as video ads shown separately on the right-hand sidebar.
The company says that any and all advertising will be labeled as “sponsored,” and that answers to these Sponsored Questions will still be generated by the technology, not influenced or written by the brands sponsoring them.
