Perplexity CEO says AI winners will be decided by efficiency

Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas said the companies best able to deliver the most useful AI output for each unit of power and each user will be strongest in the long run. In an interview with CNBC on Wednesday, Srinivas said the key measure is “most token value per watt per user,” arguing that firms will need to balance accuracy, speed, cost, privacy and intelligence to stay competitive. He said Perplexity is focusing on agentic AI and on orchestration, a system that decides which model to use, where processing should happen, and how different AI tools should work together. The company has been pushing products that run across devices and cloud systems, including its Personal Computer tool on Windows and Mac. Srinivas said the company wants a durable advantage by building a platform that works across models, chips, operating systems and hardware providers. He also noted that Perplexity is competing against larger rivals such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google, even as those firms continue to expand their own AI efforts.