Perplexity joins anti-ad camp as AI companies battle over trust and revenue
TL;DR
Perplexity is stepping back from ads – the AI search startup phased out advertising in late 2024 and is not pursuing new ad deals.
Key Points
- The core concern is user trust: chatbots with commercial agendas risk being seen as unreliable or biased.
- The AI industry is splitting into camps: OpenAI is leaning into advertising revenue, while Anthropic is pledging to stay ad-free.
- Perplexity's reversal is notable given it had only recently entered the ads space.
- Finding sustainable revenue while burning through enormous compute budgets remains the sector's defining tension.
Nauti's Take
Nauti argues that Perplexity’s retreat proves ad-free messaging still signals trust. Mixing commercial agendas with search erodes credibility, so teams chasing revenue need transparent pricing models, not ad middlemen.
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