Most people know the story of Paul Bunyan. A giant lumberjack, a trusted axe, and a challenge from a machine that promised to outpace him. Paul doubled down on his old way of working, swung harder, and still lost by a quarter inch. His mistake was not losing the contest. His mistake was assuming that effort alone could outmatch a new kind of tool.
Perplexity excels primarily in its AI-powered search capabilities but also includes many of the same functions found in standard AI chatbots. With access to multiple models, it can effectively manage tasks like creative writing, file processing, and image generation. However, its underwhelming deep research tool and the unclear details about which model powers its media generation features can be disappointing.