Hit or flop? Early days but Perplexity AI may have more doubters than believers

Perplexity AI

Silicon Valley loves a good favourite, but it also has a sharp instinct for spotting trouble early. That instinct was on full display at this year’s Cerebral Valley AI Conference, where a room full of founders, investors and AI insiders were asked a blunt question: which billion-dollar AI company would you bet against?
The surprising part wasn’t the question — it was the answer. Perplexity AI, the fast-rising search startup, topped the list of companies people quietly think may not live up to the hype. OpenAI came in second, which raised eyebrows because it’s widely seen as the biggest success story of the current AI wave, according to a report by Business Insider.

The survey wasn’t scientific, but it does reflect a growing conversation in the tech world. People are excited about AI, but they’re also becoming nervous about how fast money and expectations are piling up. And Perplexity sits right in the middle of that tension.

The company has grown at lightning speed, raising back-to-back rounds and grabbing valuations that have reportedly touched everything from $14 billion to $50 billion within months. Its product is sleek, its freebies are generous, and its pitch — an AI search experience that could rival Google — sounds bold enough to get investors dreaming. But for many insiders, that’s exactly the problem. The pace feels too fast, too loud, and a little too familiar for those who lived through the dot-com boom.

Perplexity brushed off the criticism with humour, joking that the event sounded more like a “judgmental valley conference.” But doubts around the company aren’t coming from negativity — they’re coming from a market that’s trying to make sense of just how big this AI moment truly is, and which players can actually survive in the long run.

Even OpenAI, despite being the face of the AI revolution, is facing questions about its sky-high valuation and the staggering infrastructure costs required to keep growing. Its CEO Sam Altman has strongly pushed back, saying that if anyone wants to sell their shares, buyers will line up instantly. But his confidence hasn’t fully calmed the nerves of investors who are finally admitting that this boom has bubble-like energy.

Most people at the conference agreed: yes, we’re in a bubble. But bubbles aren’t unusual. They happen every time a new technology reshapes the world. The real question is which companies can turn excitement into something lasting.

In Perplexity’s case, it’s too early to declare it a hit or a flop. But one thing is clear: despite the noise and the momentum, it has more sceptics than die-hard believers right now. Whether it proves them wrong is the story everyone is waiting to see.