Perplexity AI is an answer engine that uses large language models to provide precise answers to questions.

It is designed to provide more comprehensive and accurate answers than traditional search engines.

In this article we’ll analyze Perplexity AI, highlight its features, advantages as well as disadvantages, so you can decide if it’s the right tool to assist you in your daily work routine.

TL;DR

  • Perplexity AI is an AI search engine that can also act as a chatbot.
  • Perplexity AI engages in conversations with users by using machine learning and Natural Language Processing.
  • You can access Perplexity AI for free from their website &
  • Some great Perplexity AI alternatives include Bing AI, Komo and Neeva.
  • TextCortex offers both search engine capabilities and can also act as your fully customizable AI assistant that can help you with your daily work routine, from research to general writing.

What is Perplexity?

Perplexity AI is an AI powered search engine that strives to improve how people look for and share knowledge. This platform draws on a large language model which enables it to give users precise responses. What sets it apart from ChatGPT is that after giving the answers, Perplexity AI also supplies the online sources it utilized in providing them, making it effortless for users to validate the information!

Furthermore, this system has Bird SQL incorporated into it; its structured search engine enables a Twitter search interface. By taking advantage of OpenAI Codex, this platform can convert natural language into SQL. This allows the user to browse through vast databases such as Twitter with ease.

What can you do with Perplexity AI?

Rather than the typical search engine format, Perplexity employs a chatbot-style structure for users to express queries in natural language; the AI then uses information from multiple sources on the web to reply.

Users can ask additional questions in order to gain additional insights on a particular topic and Perplexity will respond soundly according to the context of its prior responses.

The technology behind Perplexity

By leveraging machine learning and Natural Language Processing, Perplexity AI converses with users in a way similar to ChatGPT. However, it can also fetch data within websites and show you summaries or get you any information within a specific URL / domain.

Pros & Cons

Pros of Perplexity AI include its ability to generate exhaustive and precise responses as compared to conventional search engines, its skill in predicting the following word in a sentence and the free availability.

Cons of Perplexity AI include its sensitivity to the specific test set used and its inclination not to necessarily reflect the effectual usefulness or applicability of the language model. 

How to Use Perplexity AI?

Let’s take a closer look at what you can do with this powerful AI technology once you create an account and sign in on the website.

Ask questions

After you create an account, you can type in a question or request within the search box and the system will produce accurate replies. 

Additionally, you can filter the results to find the most pertinent answer.

Ask follow-up questions

As mentioned before, Perplexity AI gives you the chance to type in additional questions to keep the conversation about a certain topic going. If you need more sources or do not find the given ones satisfactory, you can get more of them by clicking on the three-dot symbol next to the question.

Summarize information

You can ask Perplexity AI to summarize information to avoid spending hours browsing through the internet and go through different sources yourself. With Perplexity's Browser Extension, you can enable Perplexity and ask it to summarize the page you are on.

TextCortex – Perfect Alternative for Perplexity AI

TextCortex is the perfect AI assistant you can integrate in your daily work routine to make your job tasks easier, from research to content production in a fully customized fashion.

Features

TextCortex comes with a browser extension that has been designed to include features such as voice activation and over 30.000 integrations with websites and platforms.

Other features include:

⚙️Multilingual Capabilities - ZenoChat offers support for over 25 languages, such as English, Dutch, German, Spanish, French, and Italian, enabling users to write in their preferred language.‍

⚙️Note Editor - This feature is designed to streamline the content creation process by offering a comprehensive suite of tools for drafting and brainstorming ideas. You can also verify your writing by running a plagiarism check.

⚙️Advanced paraphrasing toolbar - It is a powerful feature that brings together all the necessary tools for content creation, editing, and customization into one convenient location, making your work process more efficient and effective. You can use features like rewriting, expanding, summarizing, adjusting tone, and correcting spelling and grammar errors without leaving the text.

To start exploring, simply head over to our webapp or open the TextCortex sidebar (Ctrl / ⌘ + Shift + O).

Zeno Assistant

Whether you need help writing an email or creating any kind of content, Zeno will provide assistance to back up your workflow and help with your creative process.

It is also able to check and correct any spelling or grammatical errors.

All you have to do to get started, once your content is ready, is use the shortcut ALT + ENTER (or OPT + ENTER) and tell Zeno what you’d like it to do for you.

Custom Templates

With Custom Templates you can save your prompts and reuse them whenever you want, allowing you to stop having to copy and paste long prompts and change the words in parentheses.

This feature lets you customize your prompt by adjusting the instructions behind your template and changing the input fields.

Getting started is quite easy: simply navigate to the Templates tab under Customizations and click on "Create New Template".

You will fill out some basic information and, most importantly, the "Template Prompt". It will let you define what your AI should do and provide some dynamic input fields that can be filled in every time you start a new interaction with your template.

Moreover, TextCortex comes with a Marketplace that enables users to share their templates with others. It offers a wide selection of prompts, organized by both category and profession, with easy-to-use filtering features.

Knowledge Bases

This feature is perfect for users who need to work with several data points. It allows you to create different knowledge bases tailored to each specific use case. 

You can upload your own PDF, CSV, PPTX and DOCX files and retrieve information from them directly within ZenoChat. This basically lets you use your own files as the base information for AI responses.

You simply navigate to the Customizations section, click on the “Knowledge Bases” tab and hit the “Create your knowledge base” button.

After you've uploaded your files, go to ZenoChat and find the "Enable Search" option. Switching this on will let you choose from various knowledge bases for the AI to use when generating responses.

Web Search

This function enables Zeno to understand the latest global happenings more thoroughly and adjust its responses based on this knowledge, ensuring users receive the latest updates from the internet.

When you type in your queries, Zeno will look online for useful information, arrange the results, and display them to you along with the appropriate sources. 

You can either select Internet to run a search on the whole internet or add your own sources, making it easier for you to always find the information that you need.

Are you ready to discover more?

Get your account now and use the transformative capabilities of TextCortex's Zeno Chat to innovate your writing process.