Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma has likened using ChatGPT to someone from the Bono and Roger Waters era engaging with Taylor Swift. This analogy was sparked by a discussion on X (formerly Twitter), where Aravind Srinivas, the founder and CEO of Perplexity AI, argued that his AI platform surpasses OpenAI’s ChatGPT in terms of intelligence.
Sharma, in agreement with Srinivas, suggested that Perplexity AI offers a more robust and up-to-date understanding of current events compared to ChatGPT. He pointed out that ChatGPT, while powerful, has a limitation: it relies on a dataset that is only accurate up to a certain date, making it less reliable for recent developments.
“ChatGPT is like talking Taylor Swift to your grandfather who is from the Bono and Roger Waters era. Perplexity is perpetually intelligent. Then and now,” Sharma tweeted, highlighting the advantage Perplexity has in handling real-time information.
Srinivas backed up his claims with a practical example. He asked both ChatGPT (in its free version) and Perplexity the same question: “What has triggered X being restricted in Brazil?”
The responses from both AI platforms showcased a stark difference in their capabilities. ChatGPT offered a generalised response, mentioning Brazil’s broader regulatory actions against misinformation and hate speech, particularly during sensitive periods like elections. In contrast, Perplexity provided a more direct and relevant answer, explaining that the restriction was due to X’s (formerly Twitter) failure to comply with a judicial order from Supreme Court Justice Alexandre de Moraes.
This demonstration, according to Srinivas and supported by Sharma, illustrates why users might prefer Perplexity over ChatGPT for timely and accurate search results.
Perplexity AI was founded in August 2022, just a few months before OpenAI. The company was established by Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, and Andy Konwinski, all of whom have extensive experience in AI, machine learning, and backend systems. Notably, Yarats, the CTO, was an AI research scientist at Meta, and Srinivas, the CEO, previously worked at OpenAI as an AI researcher.
