I think of Perplexity as a knowledge discovery engine, neither a search engine. Of course, we call it an answer engine, but everything matters here.
Words found on the source page on Nov 6, 2026.
More from Aravind Srinivas
PodcastLex Fridman Podcast #434: Aravind SrinivasJun 19, 2024
But at the end, products need to be having some magic to them and the magic comes from letting you be more lazy.PodcastLex Fridman Podcast #434: Aravind SrinivasJun 19, 2024
Every person in the world is curious, but not all of them are blessed to translate that curiosity into a well-articulated question.PodcastLex Fridman Podcast #434: Aravind SrinivasJun 19, 2024
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We would rather take a more dramatic position, that the best way to actually make a dent in the search space is to not try to do what Google does, but try to do something they don’t want to do.PodcastLex Fridman Podcast #434: Aravind SrinivasJun 19, 2024
What is the weakness of Google is that any ad unit that’s less profitable than a link, or any ad unit that kind of disincentivizes the link click is not in their interest to go aggressive on, because it takes money away from something that’s higher margins.
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If I fast-forward, a lot of what are just information-seeking queries will be agentic in Search.TalkAlphabet Q4 2025 earnings call remarksFeb 4, 2026
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So I would say Search is under siege from both sides, from both the common things that you want simple answers to, and the complex things where you can apply very different techniques from what you have done before.PodcastTraining Data podcast (Sequoia Capital), on the business of searchOct 8, 2024
Consumer choice is fiction in a whole bunch of things that we do. We eat what’s put in front of us and we will search with the default search engine that came in our browsers.
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