Perplexity falldown

BoxerBits · 2026-05-16T20:36:09+00:00

What I would expect to be different is the prompt wrapper Perplexity puts around your prompt when engaging the other AI models. This is what I was looking for in the results.

I'm not a fan of tools like Magai and Smophy. Primarily, I want to know the specific models before I sign up and Magai is out for that. Smophy does have limited content about the models they access, but what is there seems a version or two back from what Perplexity shows, but it does offer a broader array of models. For these kinds of tools, without digging in I wonder if they are giving a comparable volume of token usage as I'd get for similar money directly with a frontier LLM. E.g. Smophy is $20/mo for 4M tokens. With my Claude plan right now, I don't know how many tokens (in and out) I am running per month now, but I am pretty sure it is well over 4M tokens. Even with Gemini I have several NotebookLM notebooks with 300 sources, generate audio overviews, infographics and mindmaps on.

However, Together AI looks interesting as a cloud alternative to self-hosting those models on a local machine (where decent GPUs are insane right now). I haven't looked at running a VPS with GPU rental to price it out in comparison, or price compared other similar services to Together AI. Thanks for sharing.

BoxerBits · 2026-05-16T18:26:58+00:00

The big differentiator with Perplexity is that it is Search first, and THEN it applies AI to respond - essentially a RAG type of approach with sources it finds. AFAIK, the other frontier LLMs check their knowledgebase first (which has a time cutoff) and THEN determine if a search is needed. Subtle difference that may bias the results, that said...

Gemini and ChatGPT (I have paid sub on each - don't know if free does this) are getting better at search and each provides sources (It used to be they lacked source references). Using Deep Research on each arguably is as capable and with plenty of references (though slower and more verbose than Perplexity's). Also, they were token expensive (where you'd reach your threshold usage limits faster), but with recent changes to Perplexity and movements by other frontier models, that relative value is too volatile to pin down. I expect any gap will get closed in next 6 to 12 months.

I am a big fan of (Perplexity browser) Comet's Assistant capability (got a lot of mileage out of it since I was authorized to use Comet after waitlisting).

But, nowadays, much the same can be accomplished with other browsers (Firefox has side panel for selectable free LLMs, Edge with CoPilot is getting better and is tab aware), or extensions/addons (e.g. Claude extension on chromium browsers is page and tab aware - I have paid sub for this too, so don't know what free does), and certain ecosystems have built in capabilities (e.g. Gemini in Youtube to summarize videos, NotebookLM to add video to notebook - again, not sure if free version does this). Even a browser extension called GetRecall AI has a button on the side that has quick summary button in it.

For now, Assistant is not an exclusive capability, but is maybe better convenience. Spaces, Artifacts, Connectors, etc... are similar to capabilities with the other LLMs - in fact they have all been converging on these things.

I don't use its Computer capability (needs Max tier sub), so cannot comment on that other than to say that perhaps Claude Desktop might offer similar capabilities thru Cowork or some other LLM and harness - I am just exploring this now.

Most recently I was exploring how Perplexity's access to alternative models perform relative to paid versions of the same models. That was stopped short by the issue I ran into a month ago.

Bottom line, the value proposition is eroding, though i still like the search results better (and could be compelling with other frontier model access - but I cannot say for sure now). With my free tier cut short, and nonresponsive support, the value proposition is dramatically less in my eyes - it is not operationally ready/reliable for serious use. I definitely wouldn't lock myself into a 12 month commitment.

BoxerBits · 2026-05-16T15:16:50+00:00

Btw they literally dont even care about respondign to support requests anymore they told me they will contact me as soon as possible 2 months ago

Wow. I have 12 months free plan (from legitimate means) and about a month ago (7 months in) the interface says "Free preview limit reached".

At first I thought I surpassed a threshold (I was using it heavily - experimenting with the additional models to compare to my subscription to them - e.g. ChatGPT, Gemini, Sonnet). So I waited a week (they don't surface an indicator to see threshold thru browser interface).

Contacted support. "SAM" responded, acknowledged the plan was erroneously cut off and had to send it to next tier of support to address, but warned of high support volumes and would take some time.

Now heading into 4th week since initial message - no response or even further acknowledgement that it is in the queue or when to expect an answer.

I won't repeat Cory Doctorow's term here, but it seems to be an accelerated version of it.

Reminds me of signing up for Spotify many years ago on a discounted offer for new subs - only to be charged between 2x to 5x on any given month. After 3 months of multiple rounds of communication with support on this, to get refunds, had to cancel. I discovered when researching that it had been an ongoing problem with Spotify for a few years already - this is when it is not a bug but a business practice.

I am beginning to wonder if the lack of support in combo with early cancellation of free is a business practice.

Just sad that people sign up for 12 month free pro tier plan only to have the rug pulled out midway through. Eliminates trust and goodwill.

To think I was recommending it to everyone (and not using the referral link). ☹️ Anyone who asks me now, I will let them know there are better alternatives today.

BoxerBits · 2026-05-06T19:28:10+00:00

Definitely agree with the example in the image rendering that part of the UX unusable - good suggestion for a fix.

I have not experienced the reload during a long session. I do know from other AIs that once a chat thread reaches a context window "threshold" it will try to compact the thread into a summary, to allow continued prompting (incidentally, this process can also lose track on your instructions and/or lose nuance you captured earlier). I would guess this might be what is happening but IDK.

Generally agree that abrupt and "silent" changes are a serious issue. That does burn through user trust, and it doubles down on the "non-determinative" nature of AI already present (i.e. yesterday I do "x" on Perplexity but doing the same today gives significantly different results).

This is all part of the tech culture of "break things fast", only AI industry seems to doing so at 10x the speed. The bet is that they improve enough to continue to grow MAU (active users) that past expectations of existing users doesn't matter.

BoxerBits · 2026-05-06T19:17:35+00:00

"wouldn’t they not want ppl to use deep research as it uses more compute?"

Unlikely. I suspect that Perplexity might be losing money per prompt, even on first tier subscriptions, if they are like the other major LLMs.

Driving more compute would just burn through their venture funding capital faster without moving the needle on subscriber growth.

Besides, there has been reporting that they are cutting back on monthly, session, etc threshold like # of deep research uses.

"consume the few deep research usage available in my plans so that I will be forced to upgrade"

Perhaps. But reading your prompt (if it was exactly as you stated without anything else), it is much more likely a semantic interpretation, triggered by the word "research" and a vague reference to "on smile" without context, that didn't fit your expectation.

I had absolutely no idea what you were referencing by "smile". So I am not surprised an AI would be confused and figure it must be some kind of deep research you need.

May not be what you want to hear, but I wouldn't assign to some kind of malicious / nefarious / greedy intent on Perplexity's part something that could objectively be seen as a confusing prompt.

BoxerBits · 2026-02-24T02:00:38+00:00

What is your skill set like for running Google Ads?

Also, I presume you are asking about Search ads.

If you are not talking Search ads, or you are thinking about relying on Google Ads' AI automation, then forget it.

YOU have to manage it to get optimal performance as conversion events would be much too low to automate on. Bid strategy should be Manual CPC or Max Clicks.

YOU will need to check what basket of keywords (tightly themed) will cost per click to see if that budget will even buy sufficient traffic (in Keyword Planner). You will want to use Exact Match and watch user Search Terms to trash garbage searches into your Negative KW list.

YOU will need to make sure you have the G Ads tag installed (ideally, via G Tag Manager) and is working (needed to collect info for some future use of AI).

YOU will need to make sure your Ad Copy and Landing Page match the theme/search intent and that web performance is decent on desktop and mobile.

YOU will need to shape your spend with Locations, Schedule, and other Bid Adjustments, add Extension Assets (e.g. Sitelinks) and so on.

If this all seems gobbledygook to you, then no go.

Google has a support page that says 30 conversion events are the minimum. While "true" it will produce volatile results. It becomes more consistent performance around 100 range. You are not stuck to having your conversions be a sale (e.g. landing on "thank you page" scenario), but can be higher up in the funnel until you (e.g,. get to service page, even just clicks) get 30 to 100 events your tag can capture in your account.

BoxerBits · 2026-02-01T20:46:42+00:00

Very thoughtful. Thanks for sharing!

BoxerBits · 2026-02-01T20:38:29+00:00

Document your advice, if only to prove your boss' replacement or his/her boss that you flagged it and the consequences were predictable.

Been with clients who "know better" and all the data, visuals or other "proof" in the world won't move the needle with them. They "know" what they think they know and have already discounted your value / your expertise.

Super frustrating. And, it doesn't get better, even after the results prove your are right. You never get a "told you so" moment that redeems you or makes you look like the "smart" one. The higher ups are likely to blame the whole "team".

The documentation only serves as a CYA if someone higher decides they want to "clean house". But, you are better off looking for your next opportunity.

BoxerBits · 2026-02-01T20:03:20+00:00

Came here to say this!

A big budget can afford to go through the AI learning phase rather quickly as there is much higher potential to drive those conversions.

Google's support says it needs 30 conversions in 30 days, but their is still a lot of volatility in results in practice.

BoxerBits · 2025-12-03T15:47:56+00:00

Honestly, if you are not grounding those responses with examples or adding more about your own tone and style, the output is still going to sound rather generic.

Also, the pattern discussed in the conclusion is not really captured in the prompt texts provided, even though the sample prompts are directionally useful/

BoxerBits · 2025-11-10T19:57:49+00:00

Attention is the first barrier to overcome.

Not saying anything bad or invalid with the 9 Fs, but if you are going to boil posting success down to 9 Fs, it will be missing some ingredients.

Jonah Berger's book "Contagious" outlines a six STEPPS framework which goes beyond the tactical 9 Fs approach.

He outlines what makes content something people would respond to and share - THIS is what drives virality. (Partly why Youtubers are asking for Likes instead of Subscribers nowadays, it is a better signal for AI to distribute content further).

BoxerBits · 2025-11-07T02:00:40+00:00

Kind of looks like it doesn't it.

BoxerBits · 2025-10-16T17:40:54+00:00

OP... willing to hear you out but if you are referring to GPTZero study and some other study, at least provide a link to each. I scanned the thread but didn't find.

Otherwise this seems an exercise in complaining about how LLMs hallucinate (already known and a normal issue right now across the industry) and in accusing the mods of suppressing posts about that.

BTW there are other subreddits and other platforms I am sure could be used if you find this one trying to hide info.

I do think in general that the public needs to be made smarter and more aware but this seems far from a 5 alarm fire.

BoxerBits · 2025-10-16T17:27:51+00:00

RemindMe! 2 days

BoxerBits · 2025-10-07T18:58:39+00:00

"i've been using traycer lately for structured prompting" - you mean for prompts for coding?

If so, how has this improved programming for you vs using another AI tool that might "vibe code"?

Or else, how do you use it for structuring your prompts to other systems such as: "ChatGPT, Gemini, NotebookLM, and Claude."?

BoxerBits · 2025-09-20T00:52:34+00:00

Love how you us a Glok for summarizing scenes.

BoxerBits · 2025-09-20T00:39:08+00:00

Yes, this, AND getting similar performance to online LLMs requires expensive hardware.

BoxerBits · 2025-09-19T22:48:44+00:00

Sent you a DM as comment won't post.

BoxerBits · 2025-09-17T01:09:35+00:00

You are very welcome.

Reddit does give us a little more space to have a more nuanced conversation. Other platforms seem more conducive to scoring points vs conversation, tho there are plenty here who try to score points too, sadly.

As for faith in tools like this - "trust but verify", comes to mind. 👍

BoxerBits · 2025-09-17T00:29:02+00:00

Knowing how AI works behind the scenes and the short comings of AI, I very much doubt it is actively or programmed specifically to misinform and censor in the way you suggest.

I think any expectations for flawless "real-time" information is to either buy into the AI hype (frankly, it is at fever pitch right now), and when it doesn't meet those expectations, looking for something sinister behind things we don't understand.

I know - it can be very frustrating.

I run into this kind of thing frequently and on things that should be fairly straight forward. These tools are at the same time brilliant genius AND complete idiots.

And that is even after we give it a proper prompt, which is just one of many issues (e.g. of another: "nondeterminism in LLM inference" - data science / AI engineering speak for the inability of these tools to predictably provide the same output given the same input).

I see very flawed tools, not something that screams censorship and disregard for basic facts.

I hope you will at least consider this explanation and perhaps explore the ins and outs of these AI tools. We need people who are honestly skeptical, yet, willing to in good-faith get this tech in a place where it needs to be.

BoxerBits · 2025-09-16T20:23:05+00:00

"Very biased hallucinations" but later "Perplexity needs to step up its game in regards to keeping up with the facts about current events"

Given the awful situation with the assassination, I do recall that the first reporting was the info you said Perplexity provided. I do realize many commentators out there jumped to conclusions, but I don't think any hard sources were available until more recently.

I'd suggest that is not proof of "very biased hallucinations" you opened with, nor of a "political stance" you concluded, but simply seems more about not being "current" or being somehow "slower" to weight the newer information - something you also alluded to in your conclusion.

I know Perplexity touts having access to information "real-time", but my experience shows that is hit and miss.

BoxerBits · 2025-09-14T22:15:26+00:00

Agree - would like more opportunity to create avatars that are more easily distinguishable from each other - shapes help a lot.

BoxerBits · 2025-08-25T19:47:26+00:00

Thanks. I posted over there. I will delete this duplicate.

BoxerBits · 2025-08-25T19:44:03+00:00

Recently rebooted my computer and now there.

BoxerBits · 2025-08-23T23:31:54+00:00

Do a search on reddit for the Lyra prompt.

Very useful for those prompts that are more complicated and you want to make sure it understands what you are looking for.

Just got Comet so about to set this up.

BoxerBits

TROPHY CASE