Perplexity AI was founded in August 2022 by Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski. It reached a $20 billion valuation by September 2025 following significant funding rounds, maintaining this figure into early 2026. Unlike traditional search engines that return link lists, Perplexity operates as an “answer engine” by using large language models with real-time web search to synthesize concise, cited responses directly.
The name “Perplexity” comes from Latin perplexus, meaning entangled or confused. In AI and natural language processing, however, perplexity is a well-known metric. It measures how uncertain a language model is when predicting the next word. Lower perplexity means better performance. The founders selected it as a nod to their NLP expertise and goal of reducing informational “perplexity.”
Perplexity excels at factual queries via always-on web integration, providing direct answers with inline citations for transparency and verification. It differs from ChatGPT’s creative focus or Google’s link-based results by prioritizing accuracy, recency, and source links, including video when relevant
Story behind the logo
Perplexity’s logo features a clean geometric asterisk icon by Smith & Diction, evoking a computer cursor for search interaction, an asterisk for citations, an open book for knowledge access, and revolving doors or intersecting shapes as a portal to information. In the AI space, it symbolizes clarity amid complexity, aligning with the company’s curiosity-driven mission.
