Perplexity AI is better than ChatGPT for research. I’ll explain exactly why, and how I use different AI tools for specific purposes.
I got Perplexity merch for Christmas, which made me think about how much I rely on this tool. Despite OpenAI adding search features to ChatGPT, Perplexity still wins for research tasks.
The key difference is that Perplexity excels at finding specific answers and information. If I need to find a particular fact or piece of information, I go straight to Perplexity. For quick, convenient answers I use ChatGPT, while Claude handles creative tasks better.
Perplexity doesn’t try to compete directly with ChatGPT because they serve different purposes. While they don’t create their own foundation models like OpenAI or Anthropic, they’ve built an incredibly useful framework around existing models, including fine-tuned versions of Llama.
Their ecosystem keeps growing too. There’s an extension called Complexity that adds features like theme customization and custom instructions. Often, Complexity gets new capabilities before they appear in the main Perplexity app.
I use Perplexity’s API extensively in my content systems. It helps me generate content based on real, verified information instead of relying on ChatGPT’s tendency to make things up. The answers are clear, direct, and backed by sources.
For deep research tasks requiring analysis of hundreds of sources, Gemini excels at creating detailed reports. For specific website navigation, Google still works best. But for quick research questions where you need accurate information and clear answers, Perplexity wins.
If you want to see more about how AI tools compare, check out my analysis of DeepSeek versus Claude (https://adam.holter.com/deepseek-v3-the-open-source-model-that-matches-claude-3-5-sonnet/) and my breakdown of recent Perplexity trends (https://adam.holter.com/2024-perplexity-search-trends-tech-elections-and-armadillo-repellent/).
Bottom line: Use the right tool for the job. Perplexity for quick research, Gemini for deep research, ChatGPT for convenience, and Claude for creative tasks.
