Perplexity: In-depth and reliable research| AI Tool Spotlight

Many people are so familiar with ChatGPT and other popular chatbots like Claude that they believe this is all there is to AI. They complain about the lack of reliability AI may have when looking for information and overlook tools like Perplexity, which offers a key advantage: it provides citations and links to its sources, allowing us to easily verify the information. Ultimately, just like with anything connected with technology, it is not about the tool, but about how you use it. Effective use of AI requires an awareness of its possibilities and limitations.

What is Perplexity?

Perplexity AI combines the features of traditional search engines (e.g. Google Search) with AI-driven assistants we can chat with (e.g. Chat GPT). Perplexity stands out for its reliability and ability to provide up-to-date responses , making it an excellent resource for research, projects, and exploratory learning. 

Key features of Perplexity

• Reliability and accuracy. It offers highly accurate information by pulling data from multiple sources. It provides source citations , enhancing transparency and credibility.

• Research focus. While ChatGPT is excellent for conversational dialogue and inspiration, brainstorming or creative content generation, Perplexity AI is a better choice for research and information retrieval- providing more accurate and cited sources.

• Real-time updates. Continuously indexes the web to ensure access to the latest information.

• Focused search capabilities: You can choose to focus your search on academic sources exclusively, or Web, video, etc. The free plan allows to upload up to 3 attachments (see figure 2) per day to help make the research even more focused.

• Contextual understanding in focused research spaces. It allows for follow-up questions and remembers the context of previous interactions as it offers the possibility to organize threads into topics called Spaces.

• Provides relevant videos, graphs or images.

  
  

The text above was written with the assistance of Perplexity for research.

For a visual representation of the text above, see Figure 1- created with Napkin.

Figure 1. Key features

Figure 2. Platform layout

How do I and my students use Perplexity?

I use it to explore topics further on and clarify unclear points, or search for citations when I prepare workshops and talks. I also use it to better understand topics I am about to teach in new courses, or to see the difference between various similar terms for a book I am now writing- and how this is grounded on research.

My students are encouraged to use it to search for information on a topic they need to explore, which is followed by a discussion within the group, and the sharing of insights on the newly acquired knowledge with the class.

Getting started

In the link HERE, you can find some tips and guidelines to get started with Perplexity.