AI and Perplexity: Google's Smarter Cousin

Perplexity is an AI search engine that gives you a written answer with footnoted sources. It's faster than Google for research because you don't have to click each link to find the info.

Some examples

• Ask: 'What's the latest on the climate bill in Congress?' — get sourced answer.
• Click any citation to verify the source said what AI claims.
• Use 'Focus' modes (Academic, Reddit, YouTube) to limit where it searches.
• Save your favorite searches as Spaces for ongoing projects.

Try it!

Pick a current event and ask Perplexity. Click two citations and check them. Compare to a Google search of the same topic.

Practice this safely

Try this with a school, hobby, or family example where the stakes are low. Use the AI output as a draft you can question, not as the final answer.

1. 1Ask AI to explain search vs answer in plain language, then underline anything that sounds uncertain or too broad.
2. 2Give it one detail from "AI and Perplexity: Google's Smarter Cousin" and ask for two possible next steps plus one reason each step might be wrong.
3. 3Check Perplexity against a trusted source, teacher, adult, expert, or original document before you use it.