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<p>This paper examines public discourses surrounding AI-powered conversational search engines, using the 2024 controversy over Perplexity—a US-based AI platform—as its central case. By situating AI search engines within the sociopolitical context of information retrieval, we treat <i>AI ethics as discourse</i> and investigate public narratives through the framework of intuitivist ethics, in which courses of action are evaluated according to personal and societal judgments of acceptability. Drawing on a discourse cluster analysis of 472 YouTube comments responding to a CNBC segment on Perplexity, we ask: How does the public evaluate the data practices of AI-powered search engines against normative expectations for AI-enhanced search? Such an inquiry into an early controversy of AI search enables us to map concrete ethical AI discourse structure relations between AI companies, media, critics, and users as one way of engagement with observable techno-cultural practices considered essential for responsible information stewardship. Several discursive clusters are identified, ranging from enthusiastic endorsement of AI-powered search—in line with the dominant sociotechnical imaginary of progress and innovation—to pronounced media skepticism and broad critique of AI technologies. Our analysis highlights how public discourse often reifies corporate narratives that privilege innovation and progress, potentially at the expense of a more nuanced and critically engaged debate about the future(s) of search.</p>

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“Perplexity is BS machine:” from controversy to AI ethics as discourse?

  • 期刊论文

  • 出版模式：

    开放获取

  • 发表日期：

    2026年5月20日

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  • Nataliia Laba,
  • Suneel Jethani

摘要

This paper examines public discourses surrounding AI-powered conversational search engines, using the 2024 controversy over Perplexity—a US-based AI platform—as its central case. By situating AI search engines within the sociopolitical context of information retrieval, we treat AI ethics as discourse and investigate public narratives through the framework of intuitivist ethics, in which courses of action are evaluated according to personal and societal judgments of acceptability. Drawing on a discourse cluster analysis of 472 YouTube comments responding to a CNBC segment on Perplexity, we ask: How does the public evaluate the data practices of AI-powered search engines against normative expectations for AI-enhanced search? Such an inquiry into an early controversy of AI search enables us to map concrete ethical AI discourse structure relations between AI companies, media, critics, and users as one way of engagement with observable techno-cultural practices considered essential for responsible information stewardship. Several discursive clusters are identified, ranging from enthusiastic endorsement of AI-powered search—in line with the dominant sociotechnical imaginary of progress and innovation—to pronounced media skepticism and broad critique of AI technologies. Our analysis highlights how public discourse often reifies corporate narratives that privilege innovation and progress, potentially at the expense of a more nuanced and critically engaged debate about the future(s) of search.