December 11: AI Search Explorer 🔍

AI-Powered Search in Action!

🎯 Objective:

Learn how AI-powered search tools differ from traditional search engines and understand their strengths and limitations.

🛠️ Tools:

• AI Search Engines:
  • Perplexity (3 Pro searches free daily)
  • ChatGPT (with Browse capability)

📝 Knowledge Cutoffs:

AI language models are trained up to certain dates, meaning they may not know about events or data beyond these points. Here are some current knowledge cutoffs:

• GPT-4o: October 2023
• Claude 3.5 Sonnet: April 2024
• Gemini: August 2024

These cutoffs highlight why AI-powered search tools like Perplexity and ChatGPT with Browse capabilities are powerful — they combine AI’s reasoning skills with access to up-to-date information.

Getting Around Knowledge Cutoffs

A knowledge cutoff doesn't prevent a model from discussing current topics intelligently. You just have to be aware that for bleeding-edge content, it's best if you supply the specific information, articles, or data related to your query as part of your chat to give the AI context. Or if you know a model has internet search capabilities provided by the features offered in the platform:

• ChatGPT: Great for conversational AI and browsing capabilities.
• Google Search with AI Overview: Integrates AI summaries into traditional search.
• Perplexity: Searches the internet to give you an accessible, conversational, and verifiable answer.
  • Note: Perplexity uses one of the common foundational models to summarize and synthesize material. You can choose GPT-4o, Claude, etc. in your settings (a paid plan is required to choose).
• Gemini: Evaluate and cite responses with the "Double Check Responses" feature.
• Claude: Notably, at this time, Claude does not have access to the internet in the chat interface.

Then you can ask the model to use its search capabilities or provide a link for it to crawl.

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🌌 Exploration Paths:

Choose one of these exploration paths to dive into AI-powered search!

Path 1: Expert Verification

• Step 1: Pick a topic you know well professionally or academically.
• Step 2: Run searches about this topic using Perplexity or ChatGPT.
• Step 3: Compare the sources cited with ones you trust.
• Step 4: Analyze how the tool synthesizes information and check for any inaccuracies or oversimplifications.

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Path 2: Learning Journey

• Step 1: Select a current topic or trend you want to explore.
• Step 2: Run an initial broad search on Perplexity or ChatGPT.
• Step 3: Use the results to ask more specific follow-up questions.
• Step 4: Notice how the tool connects different sources and handles conflicting information.

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💡 Tips for Success:

• Source Quality: Pay attention to the sources cited. Are they reputable?
• Comparison: Try the same query on both Perplexity and ChatGPT to compare results.
• Verification: Always double-check critical information, especially for professional or academic purposes.
• Synthesis: Notice how AI synthesizes data compared to traditional search engines.
• Citations: Use the "Ask for sources" or "Find citations" features when available.

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💬 Share Your Insights!

• After exploring with AI search tools, reflect on your experience.
• Did a particular feature stand out to you?
• How did using a tool with search capabilities compare to just chatting with an LLM?
• If you explored Perplexity, check out some of its advanced features like Spaces for organizing research or Pages for turning your findings into shareable articles (learn more here).
• Share your thoughts and discoveries with your peers!

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Remember:

AI search tools offer incredible potential for aggregation and synthesis, but they’re not infallible. Think of them as one more tool in your generative AI toolkit to enhance your search and exploration!

Happy exploring! 🌐🔍