AI search startup Perplexity is distancing itself from ads amid fears users won’t trust chatbots with an agenda to upsell. “We are in the accuracy business, and the business is giving the truth, the right answers,” they said. The pivot sets Perplexity firmly on the anti-ad side of the industry’s emerging divide over how AI should make money. Some, like Perplexity, are hoping subscriptions will be enough and Anthropic has committed to keeping its chatbot Claude ad-free. Others, like OpenAI, have embraced ads, and last week, the company started testing advertising for free ChatGPT users.