Conversational AI search engine Perplexity is taking a leaf out of Google’s advertising playbook with a new sponsorship program. Companies can pay for one of the “related follow-up questions” that users see when they ask Perplexity to investigate something. The paid question will be labeled as such, just like the sponsored links in a Google search. Perplexity has previously said that ad-driven models don’t influence the AI’s answers. That’s likely true for everything except these sponsored follow-up questions.
The companies in question are publishers whose work Perplexity’s AI may use in its answers. The first group consists of TIME, Der Spiegel, Fortune, Entrepreneur, The Texas Tribuneand WordPress.com. The sponsors and Perplexity will split the revenue in an undisclosed manner, with the companies paying Perplexity based on how many people see the available branded questions.
Perplexity is also giving its new partners access to its large language models, allowing them to create their own AI search engines based on their content. Employees also get a free year of Perplexity Pro. Whatever the details, publishers clearly see this as a potential new revenue stream, much like Google Ads, but tailored to the impact AI has on traditional publishing and distribution systems.
AI seeks fairness
Those changes may be the underlying motivation for the new partnerships. Traditional search engines direct users to external websites via links, but AI search engines like Perplexity can provide complete answers without leaving the conversation. AI-generated search results may discourage users from visiting the original sources cited in the AI’s answer.
That could lead to less ad revenue and subscriptions for the publication. Many publishers have criticized Perplexity and other AI developers for using their content without compensation. Offering a share of ad revenue to publishers whose content contributes to AI-generated answers could help address the tension between content creators and AI platforms.
Perplexity was an early adopter of AI search engines, but it’s no longer unique among generative AI platforms. OpenAI made a big splash when it unveiled an early version of SearchGPT, its own AI web search tool, just a week earlier. Notably, OpenAI has struck deals with several publishers to share data and otherwise collaborate in ways that could make sponsored answers part of SearchGPT as well.
Still, offering a financial incentive to publishers is a good way for Perplexity to improve its services and build goodwill with the data providers that make its AI valuable.
“We structured this program to have a scalable and sustainable way to align incentives for all parties. We appreciate the publishers who joined us for this program and gave us valuable feedback on how it should work,” Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas said in a statement. “We’ve always believed we can build a system where the entire internet wins, and this is just the first step.”