India, Nov. 17 -- In a twist that stunned Silicon Valley's AI community, Perplexity, the fast-rising startup billing itself as the next big rival to Google Search, has been ranked the No. 1 "most likely to fail" AI startup at a major San Francisco tech event. According to a report by Business Insider, the verdict came from a live poll conducted at the Cerebral Valley AI Conference, attended by more than 300 founders, researchers, and investors, the very people shaping the next phase of artificial intelligence.

Perplexity, founded by Aravind Srinivas, has spent the past year positioning itself as an AI-native answer to traditional search engines, boasting cleaner results, conversational responses, and a more "intelligent" web experience. ...