Advertising in conversational search inherently corrupts user trust
Aravind Srinivas · Perplexity CEO: Micron Will Be More Valuable Than Meta & How Export Controls Helped Not Hurt China · 20VC with Harry Stebbings · Jun 15, 2026 · at 10:21
Aravind Srinivas is the founder and CEO of Perplexity, an AI answer engine. He explains why conversational AI interfaces are poorly suited for digital advertising compared to traditional search or social media.
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“And so the chat interface doesn't capture that user intent, that user behavior right now, which is why it was never a great fit for advertising. And it also fundamentally corrupts the trust that people have when they go into a product and they want the accurate answer, which is what You know, perplexity is known for. And then you're like, hey, by the way, you know, you asked for the most highest, like, best protein shake, but by the way, these are good protein shakes you can check out. Like it kind of like hurts the trust that people have in your platform, in your product.”
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