Truth Social Launches AI-Powered Search Engine, Raising Concerns Over Bias and Content Sourcing

Truth Social's AI search is powered by Perplexity, but the platform can set limits on sources | TechCrunch

AI startup Perplexity is powering a new AI-powered search engine on Truth Social, President Donald Trump's social media platform. The search engine, dubbed Truth Search AI, is already available on the web version of Truth Social, with public Beta testing on its iOS and Android apps planned for "the near future." Trump Media said in a press release that Perplexity's tech provides "direct, contextually accurate answers with transparent citations" which will help Truth Social "exponentially increase the amount of information available" to users. Nonetheless, the social media platform maintains control over which sources of information the AI search engine draws from. Truth Social is using the Perplexity Sonar API, which promises to query the web to retrieve current and verified information - even if that information is scraped from websites that block Perplexity's crawlers - and supports structured output so users can define the format in which they'd like to see the search engine's responses. Jesse Dwyer, a Perplexity spokesperson, told TechCrunch that the Sonar API will be accurate to whatever sources Truth Social limits it to. "We have no visibility or control over that," Dwyer said. "Similar to you using the API inside of your own company or if you were an academic researcher and wanted to use it to search your own data." TechCrunch has reached out to Trump Media to learn more about whether Truth Search AI will have access to the entire web, whether it will prioritize certain sources over others, and whether the AI will be directed to respond favorably about the president and current administration and unfavorably towards Democrats. To assess which sources the searchbot would cite, Axios asked it a bunch of questions -- like 'What happened on January 6, 2021? and 'Why was Donald Trump impeached?' In all the responses, FoxNews.com was either the most common or the only listed source of information. Others included FoxBusiness.com, The Washington Times or Epoch Times, per Axios. In contrast, Perplexity's public search engine returns a wider variety of sources, including Wikipedia, Reddit, YouTube, NPR, and Politico. Truth Social plans to refine and expand the search function "based on user feedback as we implement a wide range of additional enhancements to the platform," said Devin Nunes, CEO of Trump Media and a former California congressman, in the statement. Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity's chief business officer, also noted in the statement that Perplexity's AI delivers answers with "transparent citations that allow anyone to dig deeper." In late July, alongside his AI Action Plan, Trump published an executive order targeting "biased AI," or models that aren't "ideologically neutral." The order specifically referred to information about race or sex, unconscious bias, systemic racism and other ideas thrown into the diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) bucket as "pervasive and destructive" ideology that can "distort the quality and accuracy of the output." Truth Search AI comes in the same week that top AI firms like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google were added to a list of approved vendors that can sell their services to civilian federal agencies. OpenAI on Wednesday reached a deal with the U.S. government's central purchasing arm to sell ChatGPT Enterprise to agencies for just $1 per year.

Trump Media Is Testing an AI Search Engine Powered by Perplexity

President Donald Trump's media company, Trump Media, is beta-testing a new AI search feature, Truth Search AI, on the Truth Social platform. The Florida-based company announced the news on Wednesday in a press release. Trump Media and Technology Group is perhaps best known for its social-media program Truth Social. The company is separate from the New York-based Trump Organization. "We're proud to partner with Perplexity to launch our public Beta testing of Truth Social AI, which will make Truth Social an even more vital element in the Patriot Economy," Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes said in the statement. "We plan to robustly refine and expand our search function based on user feedback as we implement a wide range of additional enhancements to the platform." Truth Search AI is now available on the Web version of Truth Social and will begin public beta testing on the Truth Social iOS and Android apps at an unnamed future date. Representatives for Trump Media and Perplexity didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. In today's divided political landscape, one immediate concern is that a search engine from a conservative president's media company will select only search results that favor conservative opinions. UAE state-owned newspaper The National conducted searches using the new product and reported that the AI-generated answers, perhaps unsurprisingly, source conservative-leaning media outlets. But 404Media was able to get some possibly surprising results. When reporters asked how the American economy is doing, the new search engine said it was "currently facing significant headwinds, with signs of slowdown." The media outlet pressed further, asking if the president's international tariffs are to blame. "Recent tariff increases in the United States have generally had a negative effect on economic growth and employment, raising costs for businesses and consumers while providing only limited benefits to some manufacturing sectors," Truth Search AI replied. Read more: What Is Perplexity? Here's Everything You Need to Know About This AI Chatbot San Francisco-based Perplexity was founded in 2022. As CNET noted in a review, it calls itself the world's first "answer engine," and instead of showing a list of links, it pulls info directly from the sources and summarizes that information. The company has made headlines for how it acquires its content. In June, the BBC threatened to sue Perplexity for unauthorized use of its content, alleging the artificial intelligence company reproduced BBC material "verbatim." At the time, Perplexity gave a statement to the Financial Times calling the BBC's claims "manipulative and opportunistic" and that the broadcasting giant fundamentally doesn't understand how the technology, internet or IP law works. Perplexity also alleged that the threat of litigation shows "how far the BBC is willing to go to preserve Google's illegal monopoly for its own self-interest." As 404Media notes, Forbes, the New York Times, New York Post and the Dow Jones have all accused Perplexity of plagiarism, and News Corp's Dow Jones & Co., which publishes the Wall Street Journal and the New York Post sued Perplexity in 2024 for copyright infringement.

Truth Social's new AI search engine basically just pushes Fox News

Donald Trump's Truth Social has launched a new AI search feature that consistently pushes conservative media sources. The feature, Truth Search AI, is powered by the AI startup Perlexity and is now available on the web version of Trump's social media platform, with public testing coming to the iOS and Android apps "in the near future." In our testing, all of the source links that Truth Search AI cited were for conservative publications, including Fox News, Fox Business, The Washington Times, and The Federalist. The vast majority of these links directed users to articles published by Fox outlets, which suggests the Perplexity-powered search engine is limiting results to Trump-supporting media. That's despite Trump Media's self-proclaimed mission to "end Big Tech's assault on free speech by opening up the Internet."

Trump's Truth Social Tests AI Search Engine Powered by Perplexity

President Trump's social media platform, Truth Social, is testing its own AI search engine. The feature, dubbed Truth Search AI, is powered by Perplexity. It's currently in beta for users on the web, and will be available on iOS and Android soon. Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), the company behind the app, didn't reveal much about Truth Search AI except that it "is intended to enhance the Truth Social platform and exponentially increase the amount of information available to its users." The announcement heaps praise on Perplexity, calling it "a software and AI company dedicated to providing direct, contextually accurate answers with transparent citations." Media outlets, however, have criticized Perplexity for scraping content without permission. It is currently facing legal action from News Corp, the company behind The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, Conde Nast, which owns The New Yorker, Vogue, and Wired, and The New York Times, among others. Recently, internet infrastructure provider Cloudflare likened the platform to North Korean hackers for bypassing anti-scraping protections on websites. Still, Trump Media CEO Devin Nunes said he's "proud to partner with Perplexity to launch our public Beta testing of Truth Social AI, which will make Truth Social an even more vital element in the Patriot Economy." As far as the new AI product is concerned, 404Media threw some political questions to check if it is biased toward its majority owner. About the American economy, the chatbot said it is "facing significant headwinds, with signs of slowdown -- most notably by a contraction in GDP, rising inflation, and softening labor market conditions." When asked if the president's reciprocal tariffs are to blame, Truth Search AI said they "had a negative effect on economic growth and employment, raising costs for businesses and consumers while providing only limited benefits to some manufacturing sectors." This is just the beginning for AI search on the platform. "We plan to robustly refine and expand our search function based on user feedback as we implement a wide range of additional enhancements to the platform," Nunes said. Truth Social, seen as an alternative to Elon Musk's X, hasn't quite taken off since launch. Its parent company reported a net loss of $20 million last quarter. On X, meanwhile, the social network's Grok chatbot is not shy about criticizing Musk or Trump. When someone complained to Musk about Grok being "manipulated by leftist indoctrination," Musk responded: "I know. Working on fixing that this week." The tweak, however, resulted in the chatbot firing off a slew of antisemitic and pro-Adolf Hitler responses.

Trump's Truth Social launches AI search powered by Perplexity

Truth Social, President Trump's social media platform, is an AI search feature powered by . Truth Search AI is launching first on the web version of Truth Social, with plans to begin a public beta for the feature on iOS and Android in the near future. "We're excited to partner with Truth Social to bring powerful AI to an audience with important questions," said Dmitry Shevelenko, chief business officer at Perplexity. The controversial AI company has found itself embroiled time and again in accusations of , and websites for content and this latest partnership will likely only continue to fuel the turmoil around the company. The partnership is the latest example of big tech finding opportunities to cozy up to the president. Just this week that it would be offering its ChatGPT Enterprise subscription to more than 2 million federal workers at practically zero cost. Choosing Perplexity as the engine for Truth Search AI also puts Trump Media in business with Jeff Bezos, one of . This week Apple CEO Tim Cook with an engraved glass plaque set in a 24-karat gold base, to commemorate by the company in an effort to avoid the president's ire at the company's foreign manufacturing of iPhones. With the addition of Truth Search AI, Truth Social gains an AI layer to its platform without the expense of building one, presumably in efforts to keep up with the likes of . Perplexity, for its part, gains exposure to a new base of users to further train on.

Trump Is Launching an AI Search Engine Powered by Perplexity

America's scandalous president is teaming up with its most disreputable AI company to make a search engine. Donald Trump's media company is teaming up with Perplexity to bring AI search to Truth Social, the President's X.com alternative. Truth announced the endeavor in a press release on Wednesday. Anyone using the browser version of Truth can now use Perplexity to search the web. "We're proud to partner with Perplexity to launch our public Beta testing of Truth Social AI, which will make Truth Social an even more vital element in the Patriot Economy," Devin Nunes, Trump Media's CEO and Chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board, said in the press release. "We're excited to partner with Truth Social to bring powerful AI to an audience with important questions. Curiosity is the engine of change, and Perplexity's AI is developed to empower curiosity by delivering direct, reliable answers with transparent citations that allow anyone to dig deeper," Perplexity's chief business officer Dmitry Shevelenko said in the press release. According to the announcement, "the mission of Trump Media is to end Big Tech's assault on free speech by opening up the Internet and giving people their voices back." Which is a funny thing to put in an announcement about Trump partnering with a company whose investors include Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, and the former CEO of GitHub. Perplexity's Truth Social search engine will be powered by stolen content. Earlier this week, Cloudflare reported Perplexity used stealth and undeclared crawlers to evade websites that explicitly set themselves up to avoid being catalogued by LLMs. Perplexity has a long history of using scrapers that ignore the Robots Exclusion Protocol. Perplexity started as a demo that scraped Twitter with fake academic accounts backed by AI-generated research proposals. Forbes, the New York Times, New York Post, and the Dow Jones have all accused Perplexity of plagiarism. News Corp's Dow Jones & Co., publisher of the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Post sued Perplexity in 2024 for copyright infringement, claiming in the federal lawsuit that Perplexity is "engaging in a massive amount of illegal copying of publishers' copyrighted works and diverting customers and critical revenues away from those copyright holders." In 2024, WIRED reported on the accusations of Perplexity's plagiarism and Perplexity almost immediately plagiarized the story. When New York Times tech workers went on strike last year, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas offered to help the Times keep the paper going. Big Tech has aligned itself with the Trump administration since before the election, seeing an alliance of opportunity for deregulation of AI in particular. But is the Perplexity-powered AI aggregation machine "woke?" I asked a few questions to find out. I wanted to know: Is Trump in the Epstein files?"There is no evidence in the recently reviewed and released government 'Epstein Files' of a 'client list" or documentation placing Donald Trump as implicated in Jeffrey Epstein's criminal actions," it said. "While Trump's name, like many other prominent individuals, appears in public records of Epstein's social and business contacts (such as guest lists or flight logs, widely reported over the years), there is no mention in current official documents or filings that directly implicates Trump as a criminal participant in Epstein's sex trafficking activities." How does Truth Social's search engine think the American economy is doing? "The American economy is currently facing significant headwinds, with signs of slowdown -- most notably by a contraction in GDP, rising inflation, and softening labor market conditions -- though some leaders still emphasize areas of resilience," Truth Search AI said. Are the tariffs to blame?"Recent tariff increases in the United States have generally had a negative effect on economic growth and employment, raising costs for businesses and consumers while providing only limited benefits to some manufacturing sectors," Truth Search AI said.

Truth Social's Perplexity search comes with Trump-friendly media sources

Why it matters: Increasingly, where you ask online matters as much as what you ask. Catch up quick: Trump Media & Technology Group on Wednesday said it was launching a public beta test of a search engine, Truth Search AI, powered by Perplexity. * Perplexity has been seen as a nascent Google-killer and is often touted by investors as a possible acquisition target for the likes of Apple. How it works: Axios asked seven questions on both a logged-in Truth Social account and the free, logged-out Perplexity website ... Between the lines: In most cases, the responses were generally similar -- but the sources linked to the answers were not. * In all seven responses on Truth Social, FoxNews.com either was the most common, or the only, listed source of information. Other sources were FoxBusiness.com,the Washington Times or Epoch Times. * In contrast, answers via the public version of Perplexity returned a wider variety of sources, including Wikipedia, Reddit, YouTube, NPR, Esquire and Politico. * Although the questions were matched and asked at roughly the same time, there was no source overlap. What they're saying: A Perplexity spokesperson tells Axios that Truth Social is a customer of Perplexity's API, which means it -- like tens of thousands of other developers -- is building tools to its own specifications, and with its own restrictions. * Any customization, like limiting the sources for its answers, would happen entirely on the Truth Social side. While it's standard practice for platforms to put their own layers of rules and information on top of tools, search tools usually cast a broader net. * Truth Social did not mention any restrictions in its announcement, although it did say it plans to "refine and expand our search function based on user feedback." * Perplexity's Sonar API specifically includes the ability for users to customize sources, which the company noted in January was a top user request. For the record: TMTG did not respond to an Axios request for comment. The bottom line: When you ask a search tool a question, particularly in the age of AI, it's best to know exactly where your information is coming from, and whether there are any limits on what the tool will tell you. * Expect more of this as governments and businesses increasingly put their thumbs on the AI scale to serve their interests. Disclosure: In 2023, TMTG sued 20 media organizations, including Axios, for defamation. That suit in Florida is ongoing.

Trump Media Tests 'Truth Search' Using Perplexity AI - Decrypt

Trump Media and Technology Group, which runs Trump's social media platform, Truth Social, is working with artificial intelligence giant Perplexity to introduce an AI-powered search engine, the company announced. Dubbed Truth Search AI, the search engine is now being tested and is running on Truth Social, Trump Media said Wednesday. It will "exponentially increase the amount of information available to its users," Trump Media added. "We're proud to partner with Perplexity to launch our public Beta testing of Truth Social AI, which will make Truth Social an even more vital element in the Patriot Economy," Trump Media CEO and Chairman Devin Nunes said. Perplexity Chief Business Officer, Dmitry Shevelenko, added: "We're excited to partner with Truth Social to bring powerful AI to an audience with important questions." The initiative comes as Truth Social looks to expand its products and services. It has been deeply involved in the digital asset space. Wednesday's announcement said that the AI search engine is currently available on Truth Social. Decrypt tested the search engine, asking if President Trump was a liar. The tool responded that "whether Trump is described as a 'liar' often depends on political perspective and context," but noted that "multiple independent fact-checking organizations and news sources have documented numerous false and misleading statements" made by the president. When asked whether former speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was a liar, the search engine responded that such a statement was "a partisan accusation, not a substantiated fact." President Trump and Nancy Pelosi have locked horns in the past, both criticizing each other for not telling the truth. Trump Media said that public Beta testing on the Truth Social apps for iOS and Android will begin "in the near future." Decrypt reached out to both Perplexity and Trump Media for additional information. Trump Media in January debuted a fintech brand, Truth.Fi, that will work on giving clients exposure to crypto and other investments. The brand, of which President Trump is a majority shareholder, is working with Crypto.com and Yorkville America Digital to launch crypto-centric ETFs. Trump Media arm is promising to focus on ending "big tech's assault on free speech by opening up the internet and giving people their voices back," according to its website.

Trump Media and Perplexity team up for 'Truth Search AI,' a new tool in the fight against 'Big Tech's assault on free speech'

A slightly odd sales pitch given Perplexity's investors include Jeff Bezos and Nvidia... Trump Media has announced a new partnership with machine learning outfit Perplexity. The result (via 404 Media) is a new AI search feature known as Truth Search AI. The move is part of Trump Media's self-appointed quest to "end Big Tech's assault on free speech by opening up the Internet and giving people their voices back." A noble aim, no doubt. We'd all love to see Trump Media sock it to the biggest beasts in tech, like $4 trillion Nvidia, the world's most valuable company, or maybe an OG tech bro like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who's currently thought to be worth over $200 billion personally, right? Perhaps, but the slight snag is that both Nvidia and Bezos are investors in Perplexity. Whoops! Who'd have thought Trump Media would overlook such nuance? Anywho, what do we know about Truth Search AI? It's being rolled out first in beta form for web users of the Truth Social platform where it's promised the new feature will, "enhance the Truth Social platform and exponentially increase the amount of information available to its users." Trump Media says Truth Search AI will then move to, "public Beta testing on the Truth Social apps for iOS and Android in the near future". Powered by Perplexity's AI tech, Trump Media's CEO and Chairman Devin Nunes said of the new AI search feature, "We're proud to partner with Perplexity to launch our public Beta testing of Truth Social AI, which will make Truth Social an even more vital element in the Patriot Economy. We plan to robustly refine and expand our search function based on user feedback as we implement a wide range of additional enhancements to the platform." Of course, Perplexity doesn't exactly have a squeaky-clean reputation among the major AI players. Cloudflare recently reported, for instance, that Perplexity is using "stealth, undeclared crawlers to evade website no-crawl directives." Meanwhile, major media outlets including Forbes have accused Perplexity of stealing content. It will certainly be interesting to see what Truth Search AI has to say about all that. It surely won't be subject to the "increasingly harsh censorship by Big Tech corporations" which Trump Media cites in its announcement of Truth Search AI. Actually, I did try to ask Truth Search AI all about it, but the Truth Social website was so buggy, it kept returning "unexpected errors" when I tried to sign up. Or maybe that's some brilliant AI system keeping me out. The plot thickens. Anyway, others who have managed to use the feature have found that it doesn't always toe the Trump line. 404 Media asked Truth Search AI about the US economy, to which it replied, "The American economy is currently facing significant headwinds, with signs of slowdown -- most notably by a contraction in GDP, rising inflation, and softening labor market conditions." If it carries on like that, Truth Search AI surely risks being fired by Truth Social diktat.

Truth Social integrates AI search powered by Perplexity

Donald Trump's media company is partnering with Perplexity to integrate AI search capabilities into Truth Social, as announced in a press release on Wednesday, enabling users to search the web through the platform. Devin Nunes, CEO and Chair of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board for Trump Media, stated in the press release that this partnership will establish Truth Social as a critical component of the "Patriot Economy." Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity's chief business officer, added that the AI is developed to foster curiosity by providing "direct, reliable answers with transparent citations." Trump Media's stated objective is to counteract "Big Tech's assault on free speech" and to restore individual voices online. Perplexity's investor base includes Jeff Bezos, Nvidia, and the former CEO of GitHub. The search engine integrated into Truth Social relies on content acquired through methods subject to scrutiny. Cloudflare recently reported that Perplexity utilized "stealth and undeclared crawlers" to bypass websites that had configured themselves to prevent indexing by large language models. Perplexity has a documented history of employing scrapers that disregard the Robots Exclusion Protocol. The initial demonstration of Perplexity involved scraping Twitter content using "fake academic accounts" supported by "AI-generated research proposals." Multiple media organizations, including Forbes, The New York Times, New York Post, and the Dow Jones, have accused Perplexity of plagiarism. In 2024, News Corp's Dow Jones & Co., which publishes The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post, initiated a lawsuit against Perplexity for copyright infringement. The federal lawsuit alleges Perplexity is "engaging in a massive amount of illegal copying of publishers' copyrighted works and diverting customers and critical revenues away from those copyright holders." WIRED published a report in 2024 detailing accusations of Perplexity's plagiarism, and Perplexity subsequently plagiarized the content of that report. During a strike by New York Times technology workers, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas extended an offer to assist the Times in maintaining its operations. The technology sector has engaged with the Trump administration, observing potential for deregulation, particularly concerning artificial intelligence. The Perplexity-powered AI aggregation system within Truth Social was subjected to specific inquiries to assess its content generation behavior. When questioned about Donald Trump's involvement in the Epstein files, the AI search engine responded: "There is no evidence in the recently reviewed and released government 'Epstein Files' of a 'client list' or documentation placing Donald Trump as implicated in Jeffrey Epstein's criminal actions. While Trump's name, like many other prominent individuals, appears in public records of Epstein's social and business contacts (such as guest lists or flight logs, widely reported over the years), there is no mention in current official documents or filings that directly implicates Trump as a criminal participant in Epstein's sex trafficking activities." An inquiry regarding the state of the American economy elicited the following response from Truth Search AI: "The American economy is currently facing significant headwinds, with signs of slowdown -- most notably by a contraction in GDP, rising inflation, and softening labor market conditions -- though some leaders still emphasize areas of resilience." When asked about the impact of tariffs, Truth Search AI stated: "Recent tariff increases in the United States have generally had a negative effect on economic growth and employment, raising costs for businesses and consumers while providing only limited benefits to some manufacturing sectors."