Perplexity AI vs ChatGPT: Best AI for Research in 2026
Research used to mean hours in browser tabs, bookmarking sources, stitching together information from a dozen different pages. AI changed that. But now there are two distinct philosophies competing for your workflow: Perplexity AI’s real-time, source-cited search model versus ChatGPT’s deep reasoning and conversational depth. Both are excellent. They’re not the same tool. Here’s how to think about which one belongs in your research stack. What Perplexity AI Actually Does Perplexity is an AI-powered search engine. That’s the clearest way to describe it. You type a question, it queries the web in real time, reads the top sources, synthesizes an answer, and cites every claim with a numbered footnote you can click. ...