CEO Aravind Srinivas cautions that internet companies clinging to ad money may inhibit actual innovation as Perplexity threatens Google's supremacy with AI-powered search.

The question of whether dominant tech giants like Google would suppress true innovation before it can blossom is one concern that keeps cropping up as AI businesses ride a wave of soaring valuations and groundbreaking technologies. According to Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity, an AI-powered search firm, this worry is personal rather than merely academic.

Perplexity, which is valued at $9 billion, is targeting the way we find and use information, which is the cornerstone of Google's empire. But as Google aggressively integrates generative AI into its search products and introduces its gaudy new Gemini 2.5 AI models, some are already questioning whether a corporate giant will ultimately defeat the competition—not with better technology but with force and control over the internet's infrastructure.

Google is caught in an antiquated model where consumers are pushed toward clickable links—not because they are better but because they produce money—while businesses like Perplexity provide search experiences that provide straightforward, AI-generated answers.

According to a report by Analytics India Mag, it was broken down as follows: Google's primary source of income is at risk as AI-generated replies remove the need to visit other websites. No advertisements if there are any clicks. No advertisements, too? The problem has a billion-dollar value.

Although it presents itself as a pioneer in AI, Google's true objective is to safeguard its revenue stream rather than improve customer experience. As long as the company's incentives are derived from advertising, it is unlikely to fully embrace the disruptive potential of AI search.