Perplexity AI is an advanced artificial intelligence system designed to handle and analyze complex language tasks. At its core, it leverages deep learning techniques, particularly in natural language processing (NLP), to understand and generate human-like text. This capability allows Perplexity AI to answer questions, provide detailed explanations, and engage in meaningful conversations with users.

Some interesting background on the name. The term "perplexity" in AI and NLP refers to a measurement of how well a probabilistic model predicts a sample. Essentially, it gauges the uncertainty of the AI's predictions—the lower the perplexity, the better the model is at making accurate predictions. Perplexity AI aims to reduce this uncertainty and improve its predictive accuracy in understanding and generating text.

One of the key applications of Perplexity AI is in search, where it can assist users by providing instant, accurate responses to their queries. It is used in content generation, helping writers by suggesting ideas, drafting articles, and even creating entire pieces of content based on given prompts. The AI's ability to understand context and nuance makes it a valuable tool in these areas.

The company was founded in 2022 by Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski. It uses LLMs like GPT-4, Claude, and its own proprietary models to generate its responses.