In a recent segment on CNBC’s “Squawk Box,” Katie Drummond, Wired’s global editorial director, discussed the magazine’s investigation into the AI search startup Perplexity. Despite its rapid rise in the tech world and significant investments, Wired’s investigation revealed troubling aspects of Perplexity’s operations. Drummond raised concerns about the accuracy and validity of the search results provided by Perplexity, shedding light on the impact of AI on journalism and information accuracy.
One of the key findings of Wired’s investigation was the lack of transparency in Perplexity’s operational mechanisms. Users have reported receiving inaccurate and potentially misleading responses from the AI search tool, raising questions about the reliability of its search results. Drummond highlighted the ambiguity surrounding how Perplexity synthesizes data and delivers responses, suggesting that the startup may be relying on a basic aggregation of web data without deeper analysis or understanding.
Ethical and legal concerns were also raised during the investigation, focusing on Perplexity’s data gathering practices. Drummond revealed that Perplexity had been scraping content from publishers like Wired’s parent company without proper authorization, using undisclosed IP addresses to bypass standard protocols. This raises serious questions about the boundaries of data usage and how AI companies should interact with journalistic content, emphasizing the need for ethical data practices in the industry.
The discussion further explored the biases and quality of AI responses provided by tools like Perplexity. The concept of “garbage in, garbage out” underscored the importance of high-quality inputs for accurate outputs. Drummond emphasized the challenge of distinguishing reliable information from unreliable sources online, advocating for direct engagement with reputable journalistic outlets to ensure accurate information consumption.
Drummond highlighted the gap between technology and journalism, emphasizing the importance of preserving accurate and ethical information dissemination. The growing detachment of the technology industry from journalistic values has raised concerns about the prioritization of advanced AI tools over accurate information delivery. The conversation called for a reevaluation of the relationship between AI development and journalistic principles to ensure ethical data practices and information accuracy.
In response to Wired’s allegations, Perplexity’s CEO, Aravind Srinivas, clarified that the startup utilizes third-party services for web crawling and indexing, in addition to its own web crawlers. He acknowledged the challenges of immediately stopping third-party crawlers from accessing content and emphasized the need for collaboration between content creators and AI platforms like Perplexity. Despite admitting the system’s susceptibility to errors, Srinivas defended Perplexity’s practices and suggested the necessity of a new framework for content collaboration in the age of AI.
