Perplexity AI to Launch Ads on Search Platform by Year-End

Perplexity AI, the AI-powered conversational and research company, will introduce advertising on its platform by the fourth quarter.

According to Reuters, the Nvidia and Jeff Bezos-backed company launched a program for publishers in May to share revenues for interactions. The news agency highlighted Fortune, TIME, and Der Spiegel among its initial partners.

OpenAI has also recently announced partnerships with publishers like Conde Nast, News Corp, and TIME, but advertising agreements were not disclosed.

Perplexity AI is taking a step forward into acknowledging the publishers’ value and facing recent plagiarism allegations and controversies.

According to CNBC, multiple media outlets, including Forbes, have accused Perplexity AI of sharing plagiarized versions of its stories without referencing its websites or brand names.

Perplexity AI told CNBC that it has made changes to its model to ensure proper citation. During the debut of its “Publishers Program,” Perplexity AI shared data and statistics to encourage more publishers to join.

In its pitch deck, the AI company noted that Perplexity AI has over 2 million downloads, receives over 230 million queries every month, and has seen an eightfold increase in queries from the United States.

In a July interview with CNBC, Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity’s chief business officer, explained that if the AI considered three articles from the same publisher to provide one answer, the Publishers Program’s member would receive “triple the revenue share.”

Perplexity AI’s goal is to reach over 30 publishers by the end of the year. Entrepreneur, WordPress, and The Texas Tribune have also shown interest in the program. According to an anonymous source, the company will follow a cost-per-thousand-impressions (CPM) model of around $50, considerably higher than the traditional rates of $2.50 per CPM on desktop and $11.10 on mobile videos reported by Semrush last year.

OpenAI also just launched a new AI-powered search engine to compete against Google and other AI search engines.