Perplexity - the game-changing AI tool that comes with references

The website hands accountability back to its users in a way that ChatGPT and Bard have yet to accomplish

AI tools used in creative fields raise questions about ideas of authenticity and the value of art. Photo: Black_Kira

Everyone is talking about artificial intelligence.

Whether it’s to create photographic images, art works, novels, poetry or articles, there is no escaping the vast snare of AI – which is rapidly becoming the next step in the evolution of content creation.

Understandably, many creatives from various sectors are concerned.

With no real guidelines or transparency on how to use AI tools in creative fields, there is a fear around how this influx of content will not only put creatives out of work, but muddy the waters of authenticity.

It is in many ways a valid argument but one I’m not particularly concerned with. Whenever technological advances have entered the world of art creation, there has been uproar. Most recently, people were concerned with the use of text-to-image generators, such as Midjourney, and perhaps more famously with the growing powers of chatbots such as OpenAI's ChatGPT.

To the critics I may sound naive, but I find it hard to believe how AI can take away a writer’s job.

If anything, a journalist, researcher or historian should see technology as a tool to advance their own creative endeavours as opposed to something that will replace them. Take Perplexity, an AI search engine founded last August.

I have played around with other chatbot AI websites and while interesting and impressive in some respects, I never felt they enhanced my experience significantly as a research tool.

So, I wanted to experiment.

I recently read R F Kuang’s latest novel, Yellow Face. It’s a contemporary, mixed-genre novel that follows June Hayward, a white, unsuccessful author who steals the first draft of a manuscript of her recently deceased frenemy, the glamorous and famous Chinese-American author, Athena Liu.

The novel brilliantly and with nuance, explores themes of race, appropriation and diversity, so I decided to use Perplexity to find out all I can about Yellow Face as a novel and concept

The Perplexity interface is simple and user friendly. The home page shows a “popular now” section which isn’t too different from a trending newsfeed one would see on Twitter.

There is a large window and search bar at the top where one can enter a question, which is where I wrote: “What is yellow face?”

Prior to testing out Perplexity, I ran the same prompt through ChatGPT and Bard, and was underwhelmed by the results. I went into this expecting that Perplexity would regurgitate the same generic text.

But I was wrong.

I instantly noticed a difference in the answers Perplexity provided. The information was more concise (often 100 words or so fewer than other AI sites) and very much to the point.

Surprisingly, it also provided clear hyperlinked references after each sentence.

Every statement and every point was backed up with sources that already existed on the internet. While most were reputable sources, it was still my job to go and make sure that the information is accurate – having the references made this much easier.

This alone is a remarkable feature.

Reading information on ChatGPT and Bard can be daunting. The answers appear as if from nowhere and are presented in a tone that, while polite, feels uninformative.

The user is simply expected to trust the AI.

However, interacting with Preplixity, I was given information plainly and in its entirety, with clear indicators to how this material was formulated.

The onus, the responsibility, the control was given back to me as the user.

Under each answer to a question or prompt, Perplexity suggests an additional three questions. These feel intuitive and yet are different facets of the same topic. It even started suggesting the questions I had planned on asking. And when I asked for other novels that deal with similar themes, the list Perplexity provided was much longer than other AI sites’ suggestions and the stories were more diverse.

I was also surprised by how easily a user could find inspiration while using the platform.

Much in the same way I might browse through a bookshop and come across a book I’d never heard of, Perplexity offers the temptation to fall down rabbit holes of information through the references and suggested questions provided.

The tool comes at a time when words such as “value”, “authenticity” and “real art” are being used by gatekeepers to set parameters on what constitutes creativity, art and truth.

French poet and art critic Charles Baudelaire, considered by many as the father of modern art criticism, famously wrote in his essay The Mirror of Art in 1859 that photography was to be "the refuge of every would-be painter, every painter too ill-endowed or too lazy to complete his studies".

I don’t think I need to make an argument about how wrong he was.

I’m more aligned to the thinking of writer and actor Stephen Fry, who once said: “One technology doesn't replace another, it complements. Books are no more threatened by Kindle than stairs by elevators.”

It’s a fraught, endless debate, which eventually dies down when creatives are influenced by, improve, adapt, experiment with and apply new technologies in practising their art.

As someone constantly searching the internet for obscure information and stories, for me Perplexity feels like a trusted tool to give my work more concise, colourful imagery and facts in a shorter period of time.

Is Perplexity a game changer? It feels like it.