Why ‘Perplexity Shopping’ Brings AI Automation to the Mainstream

Just when you think the large language model (LLM) market is getting stale, Perplexity AI throws you a curveball.

This week, the fast-growing generative AI startup announced it would be introducing Perplexity Shopping, which will enable users to research and buy products directly via its chatbot.

The user enters a written prompt detailing what items they’re shopping for, and the chatbot will put forward recommendations with item cards that users can click on to purchase goods directly within the app.

As Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas said: “You get a thoroughly-researched answer with visual product cards and can buy the products right from the answer with one click.”

So why does this matter? It suggests that the nature of chatbots is starting to change, stepping deep into the territory of traditional search engines and e-commerce platforms with a move to automation.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. How Perplexity AI Turned a Research Chatbot into a Virtual Shopping Agent
3. Will Other LLMs Turn into Shopping Assistants?
4. The Bottom Line
5. FAQs
6. References

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. How Perplexity AI Turned a Research Chatbot into a Virtual Shopping Agent
3. Will Other LLMs Turn into Shopping Assistants?
Show Full Guide
4. The Bottom Line
5. FAQs
6. References

How Perplexity AI Turned a Research Chatbot into a Virtual Shopping Agent

Since the height of the ChatGPT and LLM craze, there have been four major use cases for generative AI chatbots: content creation, question answering, code creation, and image generation.

Perplexity AI’s decision to implement shopping into its chatbot’s capabilities suggests that the market could be pivoting. While virtual agents already exist in some areas, this is a big push toward a consumer use case.

You get a thoroughly researched answer with compact visual product cards, and can buy the products right from the answer with one click. Works especially well for compound queries like “stuff to buy when I want to throw a disco party”. pic.twitter.com/sAmf89KP02

— Aravind Srinivas (@AravSrinivas) November 18, 2024

As Srivinas said on X: “We see this as a natural next step for AI products to not just offer answers, but [also] to help users accomplish tasks that would otherwise take them hours.”

Examples listed include complex queries like: “Stuff to buy when I want to throw a disco party” or “I’m working on a nursery for my newborn”.

Srivinas continued: “This is a big step forward for us as we transition from a research tool that provides answers to a platform supporting actions, commerce, and transactions,” Srivinas said.

Thus, it appears that Perplexity is pivoting from a focused research tool to a general automation platform that shoppers can use to automatically find and action shopping recommendations.

You get a thoroughly researched answer with compact visual product cards, and can buy the products right from the answer with one click. Works especially well for compound queries like “stuff to buy when I want to throw a disco party”. pic.twitter.com/sAmf89KP02

— Aravind Srinivas (@AravSrinivas) November 18, 2024

This has the potential to be a lucrative decision as it opens the door to new partnerships and revenue opportunities, which we’re already seeing with how Perplexity AI is already beginning to work with Shopify to bring merchants and products to Perplexity Shopping.

Will Other LLMs Turn into Shopping Assistants?

Throughout the generative AI arms race, Perplexity AI has remained one of the most interesting startups to watch, with a top-of-the-line research assistant, which has put the company on track to achieve a valuation of $9 billion.

Its emphasis on fact-checking on citations has always made it stand out from other chatbots.

The fact that a strictly-researched focused tool like Perplexity is experimenting with shopping as a potential use case suggests that competitors like Google Gemini and ChatGPT will follow suit.

After all, if you can use Perplexity for research and shopping, there’s less reason to use a search engine or a chatbot that lacks this feature. When the gauntlet is thrown down, it’s hard to imagine that other providers won’t look to incorporate additional shopping capabilities into their products — especially when the outcome could be billions in additional revenue.

Shopping could emerge as a key differentiator among LLM providers who are currently struggling to stand out from the crowd.

The Bottom Line

Perplexity AI shows that chatbots aren’t finished evolving just yet — perhaps the term “chat” will end up being a vast over-simplification of their powers as the years go by.

Now, the pressure is on OpenAI and Google to make their move.

FAQs