World History Encyclopedia announces partnership with Perplexity.ai

New partnership model between publisher and AI developer improves user access to trusted historical information.

As the most-visited history encyclopedia globally, World History Encyclopedia is pleased to announce a strategic partnership with Perplexity.ai, being one of the first publishers integrated into the Perplexity Publishers' Programme from 5 December 2024.

As artificial intelligence (AI) tools based on large language models become increasingly accessible to the public, growing concerns have emerged regarding the quality of information provided by these tools. These AI systems are typically developed and trained using publicly available internet information, often without robust verification processes, and frequently generate inaccurate results.

There are also significant concerns about the business models of AI companies, which utilise content developed and meticulously checked by providers like World History Encyclopedia —a non-profit organisation— without obtaining proper consent, without providing compensation, and without offering appropriate attribution.

Perplexity.ai is an AI-powered search and answer engine that combines the capabilities of a search engine with artificial intelligence. Unlike most other AI systems, Perplexity clearly cites its sources, providing users with an easy way to verify the accuracy of its answers.

In alignment with our goal of being a trusted resource of accurate and objective historical information, we are excited about this partnership. It will allow us to develop tools based on the Perplexity API to make the content in World History Encyclopedia easier to find, browse, and access. We aim to develop educational AI tools for history learning in close collaboration with teachers to augment the World History Encyclopedia website for students.

The partnership will also enable World History Encyclopedia to use artificial intelligence to enhance our human review processes more efficiently. This includes improving tasks such as fact-checking and plagiarism detection.?

Additionally, Perplexity is the first AI service that allows providers of information like World History Encyclopedia to be compensated fairly for the AI use of that information. We will receive a share of advertising revenue generated on the Perplexity platform whenever Perplexity cites World History Encyclopedia to answer a question.

Perplexity's model leads the way for both AI and publishing to grow together, with mutual benefit. We believe this should become the standard approach for all AI platforms, and we are thrilled to join forces with Perplexity in order to augment educational outcomes of human-created content coupled with the power of AI.