Perplexity Making Google a Paranoid Android with CEO Aravind Srinivas and Ann Bordetsky of NEA | Okay, Computer.
Mar 5, 2024
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Discussion on Perplexity's competition with other chatbots, Elon Musk suing Open AI, Apple & Google missing out on the AI rally, and enterprise chatbots impacting jobs. Insights on Perplexity CEO's background, reinventing search, taking share from Google, revenue sources, and Silicon Valley vibes.
Perplexity aims to disrupt the search engine market by offering a user-friendly answer engine powered by AI technology.
NEA views Perplexity as a unique blend of Wikipedia and Reddit, leading to a larger investment commitment.
Arvind Srinivas emphasizes rapid iteration, talent empowerment, and user-centric development inspired by his time at OpenAI.
Deep dives
Arvind Srinivas' Journey and Vision for Perplexity
Arvind Srinivas, the CEO and founder of Perplexity, transitioned from academia to entrepreneurship with the goal of revolutionizing search using advanced AI technology. His passion for search and AI led to the creation of Perplexity, an answer engine powered by LLMs and AI capabilities. Despite starting as an experiment, the consumer appeal of Perplexity rapidly grew, positioning it as a disruptive player in the search engine space.
Venture Capital Partnership and Funding Round
Arvind's interaction with NEA emphasized the company's unconventional approach. NEA saw Perplexity not as another search engine but as a unique blend of Wikipedia and Reddit. The venture capital firm stepped in with a larger investment than initially proposed, indicating their long-term commitment to the vision of Perplexity as a distinct consumer-oriented platform, diverging from traditional search engines.
Influence of OpenAI on Entrepreneurial Approach
Reflecting on his time at OpenAI, Arvind recognized the significance of rapid iteration, empowerment of talented individuals, and a bias towards action. Leveraging experiences from OpenAI's dynamic leadership style, Arvind adopted a pragmatic approach at Perplexity, blurring the boundaries between research prototypes and production-ready products. The culture of experimentation and user-centric development at OpenAI influenced Perplexity's focus on agility and user feedback for product evolution.
Perplexity's Speed and Innovation
Perplexity embodies a culture of entrepreneurship akin to successful companies of the internet and mobile eras by focusing on rapid iteration and product improvement. The company's key to rapid growth lies in its fast-paced development process, constantly shipping new features, and swiftly gaining mindshare among consumers. By approaching product design similarly to early Uber and Facebook, Perplexity stands out with its speed, learning velocity, and product shipping pace, reminiscent of successful tech pioneers.
Revolutionizing Search with Perplexity
Perplexity revolutionizes traditional search models by providing an answer engine experience that simplifies and enhances user interactions with information. Unlike conventional search engines cluttered with ads and low-quality content, Perplexity allows users to ask direct questions and receive instant, sourced answers with granular details. By combining conversational AI with reliable sourcing principles akin to academia and journalism, Perplexity aims to build trust with users, offering a productive and trustworthy alternative to traditional search platforms like Google, challenging the status quo in the AI-driven information landscape.
On this episode of Okay, Computer. Dan Nathan and Deirdre Bosa discuss Perplexity vs. other chatbots (2:30), Elon Musk suing Open AI & Sam Altman (7:30), Apple & Google sitting out the AI rally (9:45), and enterprise chatbots taking jobs (22:45). After the break, Dan sits down with Aravind Srinivas,Perplexity CEO and Ann Bordetsky, Partner at NEA for the latest installment of our Funders x Founders series (27:30). They hit Aravind’s background (29:00), reinventing search (33:00), what Perplexity is and how it works (38:30), taking share from Google (41:30), revenue sources they are focused on (56:30) and a vibe check on Silicon Valley (57:15).
Articles Mentioned on this Podcast:
Google vs. Google: The Internal Struggle Holding Back its AI (CNBC’s TechCheck)
Elon Musk Suing Open AI & Sam Altman Over Contract Breach (CNBC)
Klarna froze hiring because of AI. Now it says its chatbot does the work of 700 full-time staff (Fortune)
JPMorgan’s AI-Aided Cashflow Model Can Cut Manual Work by 90% (Bloomberg)
