{"id":10492,"date":"2024-06-14T12:39:17","date_gmt":"2024-06-14T12:39:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/blog\/?p=10492"},"modified":"2025-03-11T14:19:10","modified_gmt":"2025-03-11T14:19:10","slug":"perplexity-ai-and-design-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uxdesigninstitute.com\/blog\/perplexity-ai-and-design-process\/","title":{"rendered":"What is Perplexity AI and how can you use it in the design process?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Launched in 2022, Perplexity AI is transforming what it means to browse the web.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The traditional search experience goes something like this: you type your question or query into Google, scroll through a list of results (including ads and sponsored posts), click through to any that look promising, and scan a few articles until you\u2019ve found the answer you\u2019re looking for.<\/span><\/p>\n

With Perplexity AI, you enter your prompt or question, hit \u2018send\u2019, and get a custom response in seconds\u2014complete with citations and sources. Perplexity AI basically searches the Internet and summarises what it finds, saving you a great deal of time and effort.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This has huge potential for the field of UX design, especially when it comes to conducting research, competitor analysis, and seeking out inspiration, industry insights, and best practices.<\/span><\/p>\n

But is this AI tool all it\u2019s cracked up to be? What exactly is Perplexity capable of, how does it stack up against ChatGPT, and does it have a valid place in the UX design process?<\/b><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s investigate.<\/span><\/p>\n\n

What is Perplexity AI and how does it work?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Perplexity is an AI-powered search engine. It acts as a bridge between you and the Internet, taking your question or query and generating a custom answer based on the information it finds on the web.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Perplexity AI is designed to completely streamline and personalise the experience of searching for information online. As described on the Perplexity website, it\u2019s like having \u201ca really smart friend who can quickly find and summarise information for you from all over the Internet.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

To use Perplexity AI, you type your question or search query into the text box, for example: \u201cBest plant-based protein sources\u201d (just as you would if you wanted to search Google or a similar search engine).<\/span><\/p>\n

Perplexity then searches the Internet and generates an answer based on multiple sources across the web. It also shows you the top sources available on this topic, provides in-line citations so you can see where each fact or piece of information came from, and suggests a list of related questions or searches. Click on any of these related topics and Perplexity AI will generate another answer accordingly.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What is the technology behind Perplexity AI?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Perplexity AI uses Natural Language Processing (NLP) to understand user queries and the context surrounding them. It also uses large language models (LLMs) like GPT-4, Claude, and its own proprietary models to generate human-like responses and summaries based on the information it finds online.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you have a Perplexity Pro account, you can customise your account settings to choose which AI models are used for certain functions. For example, under the \u2018AI model\u2019 setting, you can choose from a range of options including Default, Experimental, GPT-4, Claude, and Gemini Pro.<\/span><\/p>\n

What can Perplexity AI do? Key features<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Perplexity AI is an all-powerful search assistant. It can answer questions, help you conduct research, generate new text content in different formats (e.g. code, emails, lists, and poems) and summarise articles and web pages.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We\u2019ll explore some specific use cases a bit later on. First, let\u2019s briefly introduce Perplexity AI\u2019s key features.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The following features are available with the free version of Perplexity AI:<\/span><\/b><\/p>\n