Perplexity

In the search for straightforward answers, people are buried in blue links, says Aravind Srinivas. In 2022, the former OpenAI researcher quit his job to start Perplexity AI, a conversational search engine that uses a medley of AI models to provide answers on any topic on the internet (like “why are cats afraid of water?” and “best taco recipes”). “It's almost like Wikipedia and ChatGPT had a kid,” Srinivas says. Perplexity, which was last valued at $520 million and has crossed $10 million in annual recurring revenue, has about 15 million users — including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.