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• CMU president Farnam Jahanian used Perplexity AI to generate questions for Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai during a recent event.
• Pichai emphasized the role of failure in tech, highlighting how risk-taking can lead to innovation, even when initial goals aren’t achieved.
• Perplexity AI, backed by Jeff Bezos, is exploring a new “sponsored” question ad model to challenge Google’s dominance in the $300 billion digital advertising market.

At a recent event at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), university president Farnam Jahanian surprised attendees by using Perplexity AI to ask Sundar Pichai, CEO of Alphabet and Google, AI-generated questions.

Perplexity AI is an AI-powered search engine designed to give users a more efficient way to find information online. Unlike Google, which provides a list of websites, Perplexity delivers concise, direct answers in a chatbot format. This streamlined approach has gained popularity, with around 10 million active users now relying on its quick and accurate results.

At the event, Jahanian used both Gemini and Perplexity AI to generate questions for Sundar Pichai with the prompt: “What questions should be asked to Sundar Pichai if they were in an elevator together?” Both AI models produced three questions each. 

The host highlighted one of Perplexity’s final questions: “Discuss his views on failure in the tech industry. How does he encourage his team to take risks, and what lessons has he learned from setbacks in his career?”

Pichai responded candidly, emphasizing the importance of failure in tech. He explained that pursuing ambitious goals often means less competition because no one else is working on the same challenges. 

“It attracts the best people in the world… even if you fail in accomplishing what you set out to do, whatever you created in the process will still be incredibly valuable,” Pichai said, noting that innovation requires risk-taking and that failure can lead to significant breakthroughs.

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Additionally, Jeff Bezos-backed Perplexity AI is in talks with major brands like Nike and Marriott International. According to the Financial Times, Perplexity is working on a “sponsored” question system aimed at challenging Google’s auction-based ads model, as it seeks to disrupt the tech giant’s stronghold in the $300 billion digital advertising industry.

The model allows brands to bid for a “sponsored” question, where the AI-generated answer is approved by the advertiser.

Perplexity’s CEO, Aravind Srinivas, a former Google intern, stated, “Ads are really useful when they are relevant and coming from brands that are high quality, and a lot of people make purchases based on that.” Srinivas aims for the system to become “a money-printing machine.”

The startup’s ad model will charge marketers on a CPM (cost per thousand impressions) basis, with rates exceeding $50 for every 1,000 impressions generated by these sponsored posts.