Perplexity AI's new tool makes researching the stock market 'delightful'. Here's how

I'm no day trader. Back in the 1990s, I dabbled with Cocoa futures trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange using Globex. However, you may have noticed I'm not a commodity millionaire. Still, I know a thing or two about the stock market, and I think Perplexity AI, the rapidly growing AI company's new finance-centric platform, Perplexity Finance, may be helpful to neophyte stock traders. 

Also: Want a free year of Perplexity Pro? Here's how to claim it

What is Perplexity Finance?

Perplexity Finance aims to provide users with a comprehensive suite of tools for exploring company financials, stock performance, and industry comparisons. The tool boasts an array of capabilities, including real-time stock quotes, historical earnings reports, industry peer comparisons, and detailed analysis of company financials. 

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas highlighted the platform's user interface, describing it as "just delightful."  That's all good, but while its interface is easy to use, no one wants any AI hallucinations turning into a gambling nightmare when they're betting money on the market.

Also: Perplexity Pro's AI absolutely aced my coding tests - but there's a catch

While Perplexity hasn't provided any details about how the new service works, I looked closely at the site's results. I discovered the hard data is not from a large language model (LLM) but from the respected Financial Modeling Prep (FMP). FMP's claim to fame is that it provides "the most accurate financial data available on the market." It provides this data via application programming interfaces (API) to numerous clients, including Perplexity and, from it, you. 

So, Perplexity Finance's data looks to be more trustworthy than you might expect from an AI company. Specifically, the tool provides:

However, Srinivas warned on X: "Much more work needs to be done to be a complete end-to-end market research tool: ingesting 10q and 10k, and allowing for deeper research on proxy statements, annual reports, and earnings."

He's right -- there is work to be done. For instance, just getting to Perplexity Finance is a bit tricky. The tool is only available on the desktop. You can't use it on your smartphone. If you use Perplexity's Focus feature set for finance, you won't be using the new feature. Instead, you'll be using Perplexity AI's usual LLMs to work on financial questions. 

How to use Perplexity Finance 

To use the new stock mode, you need a Perplexity Pro account. This costs $20 a month. With that account, search with the word "stock" and the company name. If your results start with a graph of recent stock prices, you're on the right track. Under the results, you'll find a link to "More about the company name". 

Also: I put the free version of Perplexity.ai through my coding tests

Looking ahead, Perplexity will be adding more data. In a quiet press posting, Perplexity announced it is entering a strategic partnership with Crunchbase. According to Crunchbase Chief Product Officer Megh Gautam, Crunchbase will deliver its "powerful, private company data to Perplexity's Enterprise Pro users through our data licensing API." This partnership will provide Crunchbase's proprietary data, "which covers hard-to-find firmographics, financials, and more for private companies."

In addition, Perplexity is partnering with the business data company FactSet to provide its trusted data to their "mutual clients," stated Kristy Karnovsky, EVP and head of dealmakers and wealth at FactSet in a statement: "Together, we are revolutionizing how individuals and enterprises gather information and insights over a vast repository of robust structured/unstructured financial data."

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To access these data sources, you must be an Enterprise Pro account user with a FactSet or Crunchbase subscription. Enterprise Pro is available for companies with fewer than 250 employees for $40/month/seat or $400/year/seat. Larger companies will need to contact Perplexity directly. 

This move positions Perplexity to compete more directly with established financial data providers and search engines. The company has been making significant strides in the AI-powered search market, with its chatbot gaining popularity for its ability to summarize search results, provide citations, and help users refine their queries. 

As Perplexity expands into the financial sector, it will be interesting to see how the company navigates the competitive landscape and addresses ongoing concerns about copyright infringement. If Perplexity Finance proves successful, its achievements will go a long way to solidifying the company's position as a major AI player. 

At this stage of the game, though, Perplexity Finance needs much more refining before I can call it a real competitor to the existing stock analysis programs, such as Stock Rover, WallStreetZen, and TradingView.