Perplexity Pulls Ads Over User Trust Fears
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- Perplexity began phasing out ads late last year and is not exploring new ad deals, a U-turn for a company that was among the first generative AI firms to test ads on its platform in 2024.
- A Perplexity executive said ads would make users 'start doubting everything,' and the company does not see advertising as 'a fruitful thing to focus on right now.'
- Perplexity will instead chase subscriptions, targeting business customers and high-powered users including finance professionals, lawyers, doctors, and CEOs; another executive did not rule out a future return to ads but said serving them was 'misaligned with what the users want.'
- Anthropic has committed to keeping its chatbot Claude ad-free, while OpenAI started testing advertising for free ChatGPT users last week, crystallizing a two-camp split in AI monetization strategy.
- The dispute has gone public: Anthropic aired attack ads targeting ChatGPT at the Super Bowl, prompting OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to call the campaign 'dishonest.'
Why it matters: The AI industry's monetization split is now a public fight. Perplexity's exit removes a live test case for ad-supported AI search — it was among the first to try ads in 2024 — just as OpenAI starts testing them for ChatGPT. The Super Bowl attack-ad exchange, with Altman calling Anthropic's ads 'dishonest,' shows the trust question is now a direct competitive weapon between AI labs.
