With AI at work, our lives are becoming easier, and new AI tools and models make it even more convenient. Whenever you want to complete your writing assignments or do some advanced research, there are two popular AI tools available, ChatGPT and Perplexity AI. Let’s talk about them, what makes each one stand out and how they can help you in your daily life or work.
Quick Comparison
Before understanding Perplexity AI and ChatGPT in detail, here is a quick comparison to get some idea about their unique features:
| Perplexity AI | ChatGPT |
|---|---|
| AI-powered search engine | AI chatbot |
| Real-time web searches | Pre-trained data |
| Research and fact-finding | Creative writing and general conversation |
| Up-to-date information | Limited to training data |
| Formal and concise | Conversational and engaging |
| Includes citations for sources | No citations |
| Researchers and professionals | Wide range of general users |
| GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, Claude 3 Opus, Sonar Large, Sonar Huge | GPT-4o, GPT-4o mini |
| Free version allows unlimited quick searches with 5 Pro searches per day | Free version allows access to GPT-4o Mini |
| Pro ($20/month) for unlimited searches, all models, and unlimited file uploads | Plus ($20/month) allows access to GPT-4o and faster response times |
ChatGPT is an Advanced AI Chatbot
ChatGPT was developed and launched by OpenAI in November 2022. It uses pre-trained data to provide answers to our questions in a simple chat-like functionality, so now we have a friend who has answers to all our questions.
ChatGPT uses pre-trained data for answering so it may not always provide the most up-to-date information, and its responses can be inaccurate sometimes.
ChatGPT can take inputs like text, images and files, process them and give the relevant response.
It can maintain context across multiple exchanges, making it ideal for long conversations. It can produce various types of content, from simple poems to complex articles, with our preferred tone and style. It can also write high-quality code.
So whether you need help with writing, generating amazing ideas, having interesting conversations, need a coding assistant, or want information about something, it is a one-stop solution.
Read More: How to Use ChatGPT – All Basics Covered
Perplexity AI for Web Searches
Perplexity AI is an AI-powered search engine launched in 2022. It combines the power of AI chatbots with real-time web search capabilities. It does not entirely rely on the pre-trained data but retrieves the latest data from the internet, providing up-to-date information.
It understands our queries, searches the internet in real-time, combines information from multiple sources and generates refined responses with links to the sources.
So basically it is like an advanced AI-powered search engine that can not only search the web for you but also use the power of natural language processing (NLP) and large language models (LLMs) to refine, summarize, and present information in a more contextualized and conversational way.
Read More: All About Perplexity AI
Perplexity is More Than Just an AI Search Engine
Perplexity AI is not just a regular search engine alternative or just an AI chatbot, it can do a lot more than that. Here are some of the impressive features of Perplexity AI:
- Perplexity can search the web lightning-fast to fetch the most recent information.
- It provides links to the sources it uses to generate responses for cross-verification or further exploration
- It can interact with images and PDFs to allow us to ask any sort of questions from visual content.
- Allow to group threads using collection for similar customised responses.
- Perplexity Pro offers access to various AI models including GPT-4o, Claude 3.5 Sonnet and Claude 3 Opus.
- The Pro also lets us generate images using image-generation tools like FLUX.1, DALL-E 3, Playground v3.
- Option to change the default model for both based on user needs.
Which One Should You Choose?
So after all this information what is the final conclusion, which one we should choose? Well, it depends on your work. Choosing one AI tool over another is like being asked to choose Instagram or Facebook, but both are different.
I personally use a combination of both Perplexity and ChatGPT. Perplexity is for getting information from the internet for my research purposes and ChatGPT is for general things like creative writing, learning different things, and even for coding.
In short, if you don’t need up-to-date and highly accurate information, it is still better to use ChatGPT, because its easy-to-use interface and conventional responses feel more natural than Perplexity or any other AI chatbots. But if you need the latest information or to search the web, Perplexity is the best option available.
Additional: Which Is Worth Upgrading?
Perplexity Pro provides access to many AI models, so if you want to upgrade one, Perplexity or ChatGPT, I suggest Perplexity. It allows choosing between different AI models, even GPT-4o which comes with ChatGPT Plus and also allows generating images using tools like Playground v3, FLUX.1, DALL-E 3 and SDXL.
While both Perplexity and ChatGPT can access GPT-4o, their implementations and use cases are different. ChatGPT uses a fine-tuned version of the GPT-4o, designed for conversational context which can make its responses more contextually appropriate and engaging in dialogue whereas the GPT-4o which comes with Perplexity is stock and not customized. This means the outputs both produce are not the same.
