TL;DR: Perplexity has phased out advertising on its AI search platform, saying it risks undermining user trust. The move puts it at odds with OpenAI and Google, which are pushing ahead with sponsored content in their AI products.
The Accuracy Business
Perplexity was one of the first generative AI companies to test advertising in 2024, running sponsored answers beneath its chatbot’s responses. Despite labelling the ads and insisting they did not influence results, the company began winding them down late last year.
“A user needs to believe this is the best possible answer, to keep using the product and be willing to pay for it,” a Perplexity executive said. The company now describes itself as being “in the accuracy business” and says ads are “misaligned with what users want.”
Valued at $18bn with roughly $200mn in annualised revenue, Perplexity relies primarily on subscriptions ranging from $20 to $200 per month. It has more than 100 million users.
Rivals Push Ahead with Ads
The decision puts Perplexity on a different path from its competitors. OpenAI last week began testing advertisements on ChatGPT for free-tier users. Google already runs advertising in AI mode and AI Overviews on traditional search, though it has not yet introduced ads to its Gemini chatbot.
Anthropic has also committed to keeping Claude free from advertising, aligning more closely with Perplexity’s position.
Perplexity was similarly early in introducing shopping features, but unlike Google and OpenAI, the company says it does not take a cut of sales generated through its platform.
Looking Forward
The split between subscription-focused and ad-supported AI models could shape how the industry develops. For businesses evaluating AI search tools, Perplexity’s stance raises a practical question: whether ad-free platforms deliver more reliable answers, or whether advertising can coexist with trustworthy AI without compromising output quality. The company has not ruled out revisiting ads entirely, but executives said it might “never ever need to do ads.”