A comprehensive introduction to Perplexity AI

What is Perplexity AI?

Perplexity AI is an intelligent "answer engine" that combines large-scale language models with real-time web search technology. Founded in 2022 by Aravind Srinivas, Johnny Ho, Andy Konwinski, and Denis Yarats, it understands natural language questions, instantly searches the web for information, and aggregates multiple sources into concise answers with transparent source attribution, allowing users to quickly access reliable, up-to-date knowledge.

2. Core Features and Technologies

1. Real-time Internet search

• Directly connect to search engine APIs to retrieve the latest articles, news, and academic resources

• Automatically filter high-credible sources when answering questions to avoid outdated or false information

2. Natural Language Understanding

• Advanced language models can parse complex sentences and proper nouns

• Supports multiple language input, including Traditional Chinese, English, etc.

3. Answer structure and source citation

• Automatically cut and summarize long texts into key paragraphs

• Include a source link and paragraph number after each key piece of information

• Transparent reference mechanism to facilitate user verification

4. Multi-turn dialogue and context tracking

• Preserve the conversation context and allow follow-up questions

• Automatically suggest follow-up questions to dig deeper into the information

3. Main functional modes

1. Standard search : Corresponding to traditional search engines, using simple questions to obtain summary answers

2. In-depth research : Pro users can enable multi-source comparison, keyword cloud, and literature compilation

3. Academic mode : Focus on the retrieval and citation of journals, papers, and technical reports

4. Multimedia search : supports image prompts and combines resources such as videos and maps

4. User Interface and Operation Process

• Intuitive search bar: Enter natural sentences to ask questions

• Results page: Summary answer at the top, detailed paragraphs in the middle, and all sources listed at the bottom

• Related question suggestions: Automatically display 3–5 extended queries

• Collection and sharing: save results or generate sharing links with one click

5. Subscription and Pricing

• Free version : limited daily deep search, support for GPT-3.5, with source citations

• Pro version (approximately USD 20/month) : unlimited searches, GPT-4 support, file upload analysis, API access

• Enterprise Edition : Circles for team collaboration, dedicated SLA, single sign-on, and enterprise credential management

6. Application Scenarios

1. Academic research : quickly find the key points of a paper and automatically generate a reference list

2. Professional planning : market research, competitive product analysis, technical report compilation

3. Content creation : news summaries, product introductions, and first drafts of teaching syllabi

4. Daily life : travel planning, breaking news, legal text retrieval

7. Tips for Hong Kong users

• Full support for Traditional Chinese search, and the ability to search for local news and government announcements

• It is recommended to use it with a VPN to obtain more complete international resources

• Some telecom operators and partners offer Pro trial plans, which can be applied for through corporate email.

• Low requirement for circumvention: general queries can be loaded smoothly

8. Advantages and Disadvantages Assessment

advantage

• Real-time information and transparent sources make it suitable for fact-checking and in-depth research.

• Automatically structure long content, high reading efficiency

• Supports multi-round dialogues and natural interactions

limit

• Creative writing and extended discussion are not as good as dedicated chatbots

• Some in-depth technical details still require manual verification

• Advanced features require paid authorization

IX. Summary

Perplexity AI transcends the boundaries between traditional search engines and chatbots, combining real-time web searches with artificial intelligence to deliver fast, accurate, and verifiable answers. It's an indispensable digital assistant for researchers, project managers, and other professionals who require high-quality information. In Hong Kong, leveraging its Traditional Chinese language support and localized search capabilities can significantly improve work and learning efficiency.