Perplexity adds shopping features to generative AI-powered search as it faces more direct competition from OpenAI’s ChatGPT

Start-up Perplexity AI has launched shopping features within its generative AI-powered conversational search engine, as it seeks to challenge Google’s search dominance and faces increased competition from Microsoft-backed OpenAI.

Responses to shopping-related search queries will now display product cards for relevant items, including images of products, pricing and an AI-generated summaries of key features and reviews.

The firm, backed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and AI chipmaker Nvidia, is also launching a “Snap to Shop” feature for paid Pro users that allows users to take and upload photos of an item to initiate a query, similar to Google Lens.

Pro users can already launch visual searches unrelated to shopping.

Direct purchases

Pro subscribers, who pay $20 (£15) a month, will be able to purchase some items without leaving Perplexity.

US-based users can press a “Buy with Pro” button that automatically orders the product from a vendor’s site using saved shipping and billing information.

All products purchased with Pro include free shipping, the company says.

For products that don’t support the feature, Perplexity will redirect users to the merchant’s website to complete the purchase.

Perplexity said that it currently doesn’t receive a fee for purchases.

A new merchant programme will allow sellers to share product information with the search engine, increasing the information available to users and the probability that Perplexity will recommend their products.

The shopping features, which are initially only available to US users, are powered by tools including Shopify, a Canadian company that provides back-end e-commerce services for online shops and point-of-sale systems.

Search competition

Perplexity will provide information from Shopify for products worldwide that ship to the US, the firm said.

The start-up is currently raising investment valuing it at $9bn, according to reports, at a time of heated investor interest in both established and nascent AI firms.

OpenAI this month added search features to its popular ChatGPT AI-powered chatbot, putting it into more direct competition with Perplexity.