Perplexity accused of offering downgraded version of AI tool to Airtel users in India, company reacts

Perplexity.ai has denied claims that Airtel users in India are getting a reduced version of its premium subscription under the company’s free Perplexity Pro offer. The clarification comes after a Reddit post alleged that Airtel’s bundled plan was delivering an inferior experience compared to both the paid Pro and free versions of the AI tool.

The viral post, which received hundreds of upvotes, claimed that the Airtel-linked Perplexity account was slower, did not display charts, skipped citations, and sometimes gave less insightful answers. The user behind the post concluded that this was more like a “Pro-Lite” version rather than the full Pro plan.

Perplexity.ai has strongly rejected these claims. Speaking to Financial Express, Jesse Dwyer from the company said, “It is absolutely false that Airtel customers get a different version of Perplexity Pro than our Pro subscribers. India is very dear to us as a company and we would hope to correct this misunderstanding for Indian readers.” He also noted that misinformation about Perplexity is common online, with some using it to boost their social media following.

The company stressed that Airtel users receive the same benefits as paying Pro subscribers. This includes access to advanced AI models, the ability to upload files, image generation, and other premium tools.