Perplexity AI CEO Aravind Srinivas has critiqued Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG)-owned Google’s ad-based business model as fundamentally incompatible with the future of AI agents.
In an ‘Ask Me Anything’ (AMA) session on the social media platform Reddit on July 16 and related media interviews, the leader of the AI-powered search engine company argued that Google is limited by its dependence on paid clicks.
This approach clashes directly with the rise of AI tools capable of acting autonomously on behalf of users, he said.
“They have business model constraints on letting agents do the clicks and work for you while continuing to charge advertisers enormous money to keep bidding for clicks and conversions,” Srinivas said.
He said Google’s need to protect its ad revenue limits its ability to fully adopt AI-first tools.
“At some point, they need to embrace one path and suffer, in order to come out stronger; rather than hedging and playing both ways,” he added, calling Google “a giant bureaucratic organization” with “too many decision makers and disjoint teams.”
Srinivas positioned Perplexity’s Comet browser as an alternative, offering users AI agents that perform tasks like summarizing, comparing, and scheduling. The company has adopted a subscription model and moved away from ads.
“Realize that your moat comes from moving fast and building your own identity around what you're doing because users at the end care,” he said.
He also discussed the broader impact of AI agents on advertising, suggesting agents not humans could become the primary targets of marketing. The CEO acknowledged this model may not match the high margins of Google’s search business.