Perplexity AI may (or may not) make its very own Wikipedia using its APIs

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srivinas accuses Wikipedia of being a “biased” platform.

In a recent rant on social media, the 31-year-old CEO of Indian origin says that he’ll open up Perplexity APIs for anyone interested in building a Wikipedia alternative.

“I’m happy to support anyone who wants to build an alternative to it that’s more neutral and unbiased using Perplexity APIs. It’s a long project that needs serious commitment. So, please ping if you want to do it,” he pleads.

Perplexity is standing tall as a promising AI startup that could potentially challenge Google’s dominance in search. But, it became a target for acquisition last year, with X, Notion, OpenAI, and Microsoft all expressing interest, offering between $150 million and $200 million.

As folks are frustrated with Google’s cluttered search, especially with the trainwreck of an AI called the AI Overview, Perplexity AI attracts over 15 million active users and a $9 billion valuation. It’s clean and ad-free, despite being an underdog in a field barred by Big Tech.

The AI search engine also recently integrated Tripadvisor and Yelp for detailed results and started supporting tasks like summarizing text and managing messages on its Android voice assistant.

And it’s not the first time a tech CEO is “beefing” with Wikipedia, an open-source, free platform that’s operated by a non-profit.

Elon Musk, the controversial billionaire owner of Tesla and X (fka Twitter), has a strong disdain for the platform. He famously offered $1 billion to purchase Wikipedia, but under the condition to rename it to, sorry for the French, “Dickipedia.”

Ouch.