Reliable Alternative for ChatGPT: Perplexity
Speed up your research with Perplexity - Find academic sources and publications quickly
Perplexity is a powerful tool for researchers looking for academic sources / publications and factual information in general.
This article offers a quick introduction to the free version of Perplexity and the possibilities and options it offers in the context of academic research.
Head to https://www.perplexity.ai to get started.
Perplexity’s basic search function does not require users to sign-up for an account. But without a (free) account you will not be able to save your ‘conversations’ for future referencing.
Search for information
Click on ‘Focus’ - before you enter a search query in the ‘Ask anything…’ field: the ‘Focus’ option allows users to select the source of the data which Perplexity will use.
Select ‘Academic’ for responses based on information found in scholarly research published in academic papers:
The following example shows a search query for (academic) “sources on the adoption of Fintech technology in The Netherlands”:
The ‘Related’ questions - at the bottom of the ‘Answer’ given by Perplexity - make asking follow-up questions extremely convenient:
Chat with documents
Perplexity also offers the option to upload a PDF document and ask questions about its contents. You will have to register a free account to use this feature:
The following example shows the results of a search query about the “beliefs of mobile-payment customers” within the context of the research-paper (Evaluating Drivers of Fintech Adoption in the Netherlands), which I found during my previous ineraction with Perplexity:
Disclaimer
The examples portrayed in this article are exclusively produced with free versions of the products which we discuss here; paid subscriptions offer more capacities and better quality.
Maloca offers training and consulting to clients who aim to learn about these systems and / or wish to implement them in their workflow.