I've built and run a personal search engine, that can do pretty much what perplexity does from a basic standpoint. Testing with friends it gets about 50/50 preference for their queries vs Perplexity.
The engine can go and download pages for research. BUT, if it hits a captcha, or is otherwise blocked, then it bails out and moves on. It pisses me off that these companies are backed by billions in VC and they think they can do whatever they want.
The engine can go and download pages for research. BUT, if it hits a captcha, or is otherwise blocked, then it bails out and moves on. It pisses me off that these companies are backed by billions in VC and they think they can do whatever they want.