Perplexity PL, the web browser Comet is about to launch (May 25th) will be collecting as much user data as possible to deliver ‘hyper personalised’ ads. A focus of the browser will be to track the user beyond Perplexity’s app in order to understand users’ behaviours and interests better, according to CEO Aravind Srinivas on the TBPN podcast.
However, users tend to use the AI tools for work related tasks and lack sufficient intelligence gained from the interaction with the tools as to what users are interested in, Srinivas observed. Such activities as shopping habits, travel plans and browsing history are tracked for their perplexity and detailed user profiles should be built using them to improve ad targeting.
In return for additional relevant ads, the company believes users will be okay with being processed this much. He even revealed the usage of the collected data for the further development of the user profile and showing the ads through a browser discover feed.
Comet is still in the process of developing slowly for the May release. Motorola has also taken perplexity’ up for Plex, and they have tied with the Plex to have its app pre installed on Razr series smartphones and available with Moto AI asking Plex through typing ‘Ask Perplexity.’ It is also reported that Samsung is bugging the company to enter such alliances.
Such kinds of strategies seem to be what tech giants like Google have done technically by developing their own browser and mobile OS in order to obtain user’s data for the advertising. Both Meta and Apple have also been known to utilize tracking technology across the internet, though the latter also collects location data with some of its apps to run ads out of the box.
However, this data collecting practice in turn had led to greater questioning and skepticism in the U.S., Europe and beyond regarding the big tech companies. In fact, Google is in the middle of a U.S. Department of Justice antitrust suit alleging that Google acted in monopoly fashion in search and online advertising markets and that the government wishes to compel Google to unload one of its products, Chrome from its portfolio.
It stands out by stating that it collects its data (something that sets it aside from other services but obviously the user will know how well he/she is going to be coping with the idea of being personalized in exchange of tailored advertising).
