Artificial intelligence startup Perplexity has just attracted attention when announcing the removal of advertising from its chatbot, arguing that user trust is more important than advertising revenue.
This decision marks a remarkable turning point, because the business was once one of the first AI generating units to test advertising from 2024.
Previously, sponsored advertising content appeared under the chatbot response, was clearly labeled and, according to the company's affirmation, did not affect the feedback content.
However, according to the Financial Times, Perplexity has started removing ads since the end of last year and there are currently no plans to restore them in the near future.
A company leader said users need to believe that they are receiving the "best possible answer" to continue using the product and are willing to pay for the service.
According to this person, the biggest challenge of advertising is not technique but psychology when seeing advertisements, users may start to doubt all content, including accurate answers.
Perplexity is oriented to operate accurately, where business goals are closely linked to providing truth and correct information. Therefore, maintaining a non-advertising environment is considered suitable for product positioning.
Currently, Perplexity is valued at about 18 billion USD and reported revenue of 200 million USD, of which the majority comes from registration fees. The company still maintains the free version to expand users, but the long-term strategy focuses on a paid model instead of advertising.
This move takes place in the context that many generative AI services are looking for new revenue sources to meet investor expectations and increasingly high operating costs of data centers.
OpenAI has tested free ads with ChatGPT users, while Google displays ads in some AI search modes, although not yet applied to Gemini chatbots.
Similar to Perplexity, Anthropic (developer Claude) also said they will try to keep the chatbot without advertising. This shows that the debate about AI's money-making model is still ongoing, as companies must balance profits and user trust.
