Perplexity

Perplexity is an AI-powered answer engine that pairs conversational responses with cited sources pulled from live web search. Instead of returning a list of links, it synthesizes an answer and shows exactly where each claim came from, which makes it useful for research, fact-checking, and quick lookups where you want to verify the source rather than just trust the output. It's available as a web app, desktop app, browser extension, and mobile apps for iOS and Android, plus an API (Sonar) for developers who want to build search-grounded answers into their own products.

On Android, Perplexity goes further with its Assistant, which can be set as the phone's default assistant. It handles voice requests, reads what's currently on screen, and can take actions inside other apps, things like booking a reservation, drafting a message, or pulling up directions, without the user manually switching between apps to do it. Perplexity also offers Pro and Enterprise tiers with access to multiple underlying models (from OpenAI, Anthropic, and others), file upload and analysis, and a Spaces feature for organizing research by project.

What sets it apart from a standard chatbot is the search-first, citation-heavy approach: answers are meant to be checkable, and the product is built around retrieving current information rather than relying solely on a model's training data. Its expansion into agentic features like the Android assistant and Comet, its AI browser, pushes it beyond pure Q&A into a broader assistant that can act on a user's behalf across the web and device.