AI Tips #1: Research with Perplexity AI
This inaugural article in my weekly AI tips series explores Perplexity AI, my go-to AI tool for research-related tasks
Weekly AI Tips? Who Needs That?
Inspired by the questions that participants in my training courses have been asking, I'm thrilled to kick off a weekly series of articles aimed at sharing my experiences, tips, and techniques in relation to using AI tools.
“I have no idea where to start!” is a frequent refrain I hear from those that haven’t yet begun or are just about starting out on their AI journeys. The truth is, this is exactly how I felt when I took my first step.
In creating this weekly series, my aim is to help you overcome that first hurdle and accelerate your way to adopting AI across various aspects of your work and life. For those already incorporating AI into your workflows, I trust that the tips and techniques I share will further speed you along your journey!
Research with Perplexity AI
Today's focus is all about research, an important and unavoidable component of many professional roles, from marketing and sales, through to finance and consulting.
My go-to AI tool for research is Perplexity AI, a powerful platform which blends a search engine's ability to trawl the web with ChatGPT's intelligence. Perplexity AI is not just about conducting faster research, its also about doing it in a smarter way and with greater depth and insights. In fact, I've been so thoroughly impressed by Perplexity AI that it has now replaced Google as my primary research platform!
Perplexity AI Essentials💡
Availability: More than 180 countries and territories
Access: Web, Android app, iOS app
Free Version: Powered by GPT-3.5 (the free, basic version of ChatGPT)
Pro Version (US$20 / month): Ability to select from more powerful models including Claude 2.1 and GPT-4 for deeper insights
Notable Features (Free Version)🔑
1️⃣ Narrative-based search results: Get comprehensive answers derived from search results that are woven into a intuitive narrative
2️⃣ Follow-up queries: Discover relevant follow-up questions to delve deeper
3️⃣ Themed “collections”: Customise, organise, and archive your searches (known as "threads") for better context and results (I love this feature as it is something that is currently absent from ChatGPT as well as conventional search engines!)
4️⃣ Personal profiles: Enhance search and response relevance by sharing your personal and professional background (this is similar to the Custom Instructions feature that ChatGPT Plus subscribers will be familiar with)
5️⃣ Accurate sourcing: Rely on thorough sourcing and citations for each and every major point of information provided
6️⃣ Diverse data sources: Get specific with the ability to pick from specific data sources such as academic journals and multimedia content (e.g., YouTube), as well as access to Wolfram, a powerful computational engine (for math- and logic-related queries)
7️⃣ Copilot feature: Benefit from enhanced contextual search intelligence, where the AI asks you follow-up questions to help enhance the quality and specificity of your search (up to 5 Copilot searches every 4 hours in the free version)
The Bottomline🏅
The founders of Perplexity AI won’t like me saying this, but the free version of their platform is so good that I see little reason to upgrade (especially since I am already paying for a dozen other AI tools!).
That being said, the pressure will inevitably come for the company to move toward profitability, and at that point, they’ll likely begin to push users toward the paid version by reducing the capabilities of the free version. For now however, enjoy the fact that Perplexity AI is an incredibly powerful tool, even in its basic incarnation.
📆 Remember, stay tuned for new weekly AI tips coming every Monday!
Justin Tan is passionate about supporting organisations and teams to navigate disruptive change and towards sustainable and robust growth. He founded Evolutio Consulting in 2021 to help senior leaders to upskill and accelerate adoption of AI within their organisation through AI literacy and proficiency training, and also works with his clients to design and build bespoke AI solutions that drive growth and productivity for their businesses. If you're pondering how to harness these technologies in your business, or simply fancy a chat about the latest developments in AI, why not reach out?