Use Perplexity for Search · Learn Automation and AI

Use Perplexity for Search

As I use them more, it’s becoming more obvious what AI models are good at what, which is partly why I don’t like the “Auto” setting in Cursor, and partly why the GPT-5 launch had so much backlash.

It seems like GPT and Claude models tend to rely more on their training.

Perplexity relies more on searching the web for resources.

AI training can go out of date pretty quickly, or it can be averaged into a wrong answer.

Search results are more up to date and reliable.

So generating code is fine for Cursor models, it just needs to be pretty close syntax averages to produce working code.

But asking about best practice can be an issue if that process has changed, or you need something specific.

Perplexity will find the docs and reference those, while other models will default to their training and generate an answer that isn’t a direct reference, like trying to recall from memory, not read the paper directly.

If anything, that’s the easiest distinction.

For up to date references, Perplexity is probably the best answer.

It’s entire purpose is search.

Grok does prioritize X.com posts and web posts so it does a decent job of generating a current answer as well.

Gemini with the “Grounding with Google Search” option enabled seems pretty good in making sure it’s answers reflect real documents too.

GPT and Claude are good at calling tools, but seem to rely more on generating answers as opposed to referencing answers.

GPT does have 2 different options in the browser and app that make web search the priority, but in an API format like Cursor or n8n, that is not enabled by default I’m sure.

It has to be expressly prompted to search, which makes sense, internet search is not cheap.

So moral of the story, if you’re looking for answers on up-to-date best practice, Perplexity is probably the first choice.

If you're looking for up-to-date research Perplexity is also the first choice.

I have a research workflow on the list I'll be sure to demo the Perplexity connection or MCP even in the near future!

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