Perplexity now lets you buy stuff directly in the AI search engine

Perplexity Search is now available for purchase with a Perplexity Pro subscription.

Today, the AI-driven search engine announced “Buy with Pro,” a shopping assistant within Perplexity search that provides a one-click shopping experience. If you’re researching a product or some kind of shopping-related query, Perplexity’s response will include the products available for purchase on that page, as long as your payment information is stored in the app.

Search results include relevant product information to help you compare prices and features to help you make a purchase. To sweeten the deal, Perplexity also offers free shipping.

Perplexity vs. Google and OpenAI

Buy with Pro is available with a $20 per month Perplexity Pro subscription. But it’s worth noting that Perplexity doesn’t take commissions from purchases like Google Shopping – at this time. “There are no concrete plans to introduce affiliate revenue,” Perplexity spokeswoman Sarah Platnick said. “But it’s not inconceivable.” At least for now, it seems like a way to encourage Perplexity users to upgrade to Pro.

Perplexity is gaining attention as a competitor to Google and OpenAI by offering a combination of AI generation and real-time responses from the web. It’s like a hybrid of Google Gemini and Google’s AI Overview or OpenAI’s new ChatGPT Search. However, like any generative AI chatbot trained on publicly available content, it faces challenges such as: accusation Acts that violate copyright laws and trademark laws. While Perplexity is fighting infringement lawsuits, it is also working to monetize search results using AI.

It is not an AI agent and does not perform multi-step tasks. This is a feature that is likely to be a big theme next year. But shoppable search results could be a stepping stone to this autonomous capability that companies like Google and OpenAI are expected to introduce soon.

Along with the AI ​​shopping assistant, Perplexity also announced a merchant program for retailers to share product specifications with the app. As a result, participating merchants are more likely to receive product recommendations and purchase data about their products. Perplexity does not share specific users’ browsing habits with merchants, Platnick confirmed to Mashable.