What is Perplexity?
Perplexity is an AI search engine that answers questions in plain language using real-time data from the web. It produces direct answers with numbered citations linking back to each source. The AI search engine covers any topic, from breaking news and financial data to academic research and technical subjects. It supports follow-up questions within the same thread, building on prior answers without losing context. And you can also use it as an AI shopping assistant to help you find compare and buy products directly from the app. Perplexity also includes tools for deeper research, file creation, agentic task execution, and web browsing. It runs in a browser, on desktop, and through iOS and Android apps.
Perplexity Video
Features & Benefits
- AI Answer Engine: generate direct, cited answers to any question using real-time web search across a broad range of sources.
- Source Transparency: attach numbered citations to every answer so readers can verify claims and visit original sources directly.
- Pro Search: run a more thorough query process that breaks questions into steps and draws from a wider range of sources for detailed responses.
- Deep Research: conduct autonomous multi-step research that performs dozens of searches, reads hundreds of sources, and produces a comprehensive report.
- Reasoning Mode: handle advanced queries that require multiple searches or breaking down complex multi-part questions.
- Learn Mode: generate answers structured for student learning, covering explanations and topic breakdowns across subjects.
- Follow-Up Questions: continue a search thread with additional questions, with Perplexity retaining the context of prior exchanges.
- Focus Modes: filter search results by source type, including the web, academic papers, news, and other targeted categories.
- Model Selector: choose which underlying AI model processes a query to control the style and depth of the response.
- File Upload: attach documents or images to a search query and get answers grounded in the uploaded content.
- Image Generation: generate a custom self-portrait image through the Perplexify Me feature.
- Asset Creation: build reports, presentations, spreadsheets, dashboards, and simple web apps from natural language prompts using deep browsing, code execution, and chart creation.
- Pages: publish AI-generated write-ups as shareable web pages built from research threads.
- Spaces: create dedicated workspaces to organize research, save searches, and collaborate with others on shared topics.
- Memory: retain personal context across sessions to personalize future answers based on prior interactions.
- Computer (Agent): run an agentic digital worker that browses the web, fills forms, executes multi-step workflows, monitors tasks on a schedule, and connects to external tools.
- Scheduled Tasks: set recurring background tasks for Computer to run autonomously, including monitoring, alerts, and automated reports.
- Discover Feed: browse AI-curated summaries of trending topics and recent news from the sidebar.
- Mobile App: access the AI search engine on iOS and Android for on-the-go queries and research.
What can Perplexity do?
- Find answers to questions with cited sources
- Search the web in real time
- Summarize news articles
- Research a topic with automatic multi-step search
- Answer follow-up questions in a conversation thread
- Search academic papers and journals
- Explain complex topics in plain language
- Analyze an uploaded document or image
- Generate a shareable research page
- Create a report or spreadsheet from a prompt
- Build a simple web app from a text description
- Monitor a topic and receive scheduled updates
- Automate browser tasks and web workflows
- Compare multiple sources on a topic
Real-World Applications
Someone working on a time-sensitive research project may find the AI search engine useful for covering ground fast. Deep Research can run dozens of searches autonomously and return a structured report in minutes. Follow-up questions let them dig into specific findings without starting a new thread each time.
Students writing papers or studying for exams can use the academic Focus Mode to pull from peer-reviewed journals and scholarly sources. The Learn Mode output may break down complex material in a way that supports study, and Pages can turn a research session into a shareable document.
Business professionals who need to track a topic over time can use Scheduled Tasks through Computer to set up recurring monitoring. Perplexity can surface daily briefings, flag new developments, and generate summaries without manual input.
Content teams and analysts who regularly produce reports or structured documents can use the asset creation tools to generate spreadsheets, presentations, and dashboards directly from research prompts. The AI search engine handles the sourcing and the assembly in a single workflow.
