Introduction to Perplexity AI – Practical Applications and Use Cases

Learning Objectives:
After this course, you will be able to:

1. Explore Perplexity AI’s interface and demonstrate its key research functionalities.
2. Apply Perplexity AI’s tools for source-verified content creation, deep research, and summarization.
3. Compare the features and benefits of free vs. professional tiers to optimize usage.

Curriculum
Module 1: Foundations of Perplexity AI – Free Tier

1. Understanding Generative AI & NLP Concepts
2. The 2025–2026 AI landscape: where Perplexity fits alongside ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude
3. Core NLP concepts: perplexity scores, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and citation grounding
4. Evolution from GPT-3 to reasoning models (o3, Opus 4) and specialized search architectures
5. Why real-time web grounding matters: knowledge cutoffs vs. live indexing
6. Perplexity AI: History, Architecture & Differentiators
7. Major 2025–2026 milestones: Deep Research, Labs, Comet browser

Module 2: Interface Mastery & Core Search – Free Tier

1. Exploring Perplexity AI’s Interface & Research Capabilities
2. Focus modes: Web, Academic, YouTube, Reddit, and custom domain filters
3. Privacy controls: session toggles, the Snapshot widget, and opting out of data collection
4. Advanced fact-checking with parallel source analysis and reading citations
5. Learn Step-by-Step mode: interactive education for any topic (available to all users, 2026)
6. Privacy-first architecture: understanding data security vs. ChatGPT — Snapshot widget for session-level controls
7. Hands-on Exercises

Module 3: Deep Research & Spaces – Free Tier (limited)

1. Deep Research: autonomous multi-step queries across hundreds of sources → structured report
2. Creating a Space: setting topics, uploading reference docs, inviting collaborators, permission settings
3. Asking questions across uploaded files — Perplexity as a personal RAG engine
4. Team collaboration features and API credit management
5. Hands-on: Generate a Deep Research report on a current industry topic

Module 4: Real-World Use Cases & Workflows – Free Tier

1. Finance: real-time stock quotes, earnings data, and peer comparisons (launched Oct 2024, via Financial Modeling Prep)
2. Content creation: drafting blog posts, reports, and emails with live web research embedded
3. Technical research: code debugging, architectural reviews, and AI-assisted programming
4. Academic workflows: summarizing papers, finding counterarguments, building annotated bibliographies

Module 5: Labs, Model Switching & Advanced Pro Features – Pro Tier ($20/mo)

1. Perplexity Labs / Create Files & Apps (launched May 2025, Pro exclusive)
2. Multi-Model Switching (Pro exclusive)
3. Pro model roster (2026): GPT-5, Claude 4 Sonnet, Gemini 2.5 Pro, Perplexity Sonar
4. When to switch models: reasoning tasks vs. writing vs. broad research
5. Image generation: generating visuals directly in Perplexity’s interface (Pro exclusive)
6. Video generation: Veo 3.1 powered, up to 8-second videos with audio (Pro and above, 2025)