Trump Media Partners With Perplexity on AI Search Tool

Articles referenced on Truth Search AI appear to come largely from right-leaning news outlets. (Stefani Reynolds/ AFP via Getty Images)

Trump Media & Technology Group is partnering with Perplexity AI on an artificial-intelligence search engine on Truth Social, the company announced Wednesday.

Public beta-testing of the new function, called Truth Search AI, is now under way on Truth Social, the social-media platform co-founded by President Donald Trump. Perplexity is powering the feature, Trump Media said.

“Truth Search AI is intended to enhance the Truth Social platform and exponentially increase the amount of information available to its users,” Trump Media said in a press release. The company first announced the development of an AI search function last month.

The search engine, which now appears on the web version of Truth Social, allows users to ask questions and receive summarized answers based on news articles and other internet research sources—similar to Perplexity’s main platform.

However, articles referenced on Truth Search AI appear to be from media outlets such as Fox News, Fox Business, Breitbart, Newsmax, The Washington Times, and The Epoch Times. When Barron’s asked identical questions to Truth Search AI and Perplexity, the platforms produced similar answers, but Perplexity referenced information from more sources, and from a wider range.

Truth Social is implementing the Perplexity Sonar application programming interface, or API, which developers can use to customize their tools however they choose, Perplexity said.

“The Perplexity Sonar API allows developers to select which sources are best for their specific use case,” a Perplexity spokesperson told Barron’s. “Our commitment is to always give developers as much choice as possible when using our API’s to deploy accurate AI.”

Trump Media didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment about how its search engine is programmed or the structure of the partnership between the two companies.

News Corp, the owner of Barron’s publisher Dow Jones, has sued Perplexity, alleging copyright infringement. Fox and News Corp share common ownership.

Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com