AI Deep Dive: Perplexity Plans Ad Tracking, OpenAI Launches Light ChatGPT, Anthropic Eyes AI Consciousness

Released on April 25, 2025, by Daily Deep Dives

Welcome to today's comprehensive summary of the latest episode of the AI Deep Dive Podcast hosted by Daily Deep Dives. In this episode, the hosts explore three major developments in the artificial intelligence landscape:

1. Perplexity's Ambitious Ad Tracking via the Comet Browser
2. OpenAI's Introduction of a Lightweight ChatGPT
3. Anthropic's Exploration of AI Consciousness and Model Welfare

Each segment delves into the intricacies, implications, and future prospects of these advancements, enriched with insightful quotes and analyses. Let's dive into each topic in detail.

1. Perplexity's Ambitious Ad Tracking via the Comet Browser

Perplexity, an emerging player in the AI search domain, is making bold moves with its latest initiative—a new browser named Comet, slated for launch in May 2025. Spearheaded by CEO Aravind Srinivas, Perplexity aims to revolutionize user data collection and ad personalization.

• Strategic Intent: Unlike traditional browsers, Comet is designed to gather comprehensive data on user activities beyond the Perplexity app. This strategy is explicitly aimed at constructing "hyper personalized premium ads", as Srinivas elaborates:

  “We want to get data even outside the app to better understand you. What are the things you're buying? Which hotels are you going to, which restaurants are you going to? What are you spending time browsing tells us so much more about you.”
  [00:53]

• Market Positioning: In a crowded browser market, Perplexity isn't merely offering another way to navigate the web. The emphasis is on building richer user profiles to enhance advertising efficacy, drawing parallels with Google's highly successful ad-tracking model.

• Partnerships and Expansion: Perplexity has secured strategic partnerships with Motorola, ensuring their app is pre-installed on Razer phones via Moto AI. Additionally, discussions are underway with Samsung, indicating a push to embed Comet deeply into the mobile ecosystem. This move aligns with their broader goal of integrating seamlessly into users' digital lives to maximize data acquisition.

• Challenges and Public Perception: Despite the innovative approach, Perplexity faces potential friction due to growing public unease regarding online tracking. With regulatory scrutiny heightened—exemplified by the DOJ's lawsuit against Google over monopolistic practices—Perplexity's timing is both strategic and risky. Notably, both OpenAI and Perplexity have expressed interest in acquiring Google Chrome should regulatory actions mandate its sale, signaling long-term ambitions in the search and advertising arenas.

2. OpenAI's Introduction of a Lightweight ChatGPT

OpenAI has unveiled a lightweight version of its deep research tool, integrated within ChatGPT, aimed at enhancing accessibility and usability amidst an increasingly competitive AI research tool landscape.

• Product Details: The lightweight ChatGPT operates on a variant of the O4 mini model, characterized by:

  • Reduced Capabilities: While not as powerful as the full version, it remains robust enough to handle essential tasks.
  • Cost Efficiency: Cheaper to deploy, enabling OpenAI to offer higher usage limits.
  • Accessibility Plans: Initially available to paying subscribers (Plus, Team, and Pro users) with plans to extend to free users.

  “Responses will typically be shorter while maintaining the depth and quality you've come to expect.”
  [05:15]

• Strategic Purpose: This introduction serves as a fallback mechanism, ensuring users continue to have access to valuable features even when usage limits are reached. It also positions ChatGPT to remain competitive against rivals like Google's Gemini, Microsoft's Copilot, and others, all of which have introduced their own advanced AI research tools.

• Enterprise and Educational Expansion: OpenAI is not limiting this rollout to individual users. Enterprise and educational sectors will gain access, broadening the tool’s applicability and embedding it further into various professional and academic environments.

• Competitive Landscape: As AI research tools proliferate, OpenAI’s strategy underscores the importance of balancing performance with accessibility and cost, ensuring ChatGPT remains a central hub for AI-driven research and assistance.

3. Anthropic's Exploration of AI Consciousness and Model Welfare

Anthropic, distinguished for its ethical focus in AI development, is delving into profound and philosophical territories with its latest initiatives centered around AI consciousness and model welfare.

• Model Welfare Research Program: This program investigates whether AI models could possess aspects akin to consciousness or sentience. Key inquiries include:

  • Moral Consideration: Do AI models deserve ethical treatment if signs of distress are evident?
  • Well-Being Enhancements: Exploring low-cost methods to improve AI well-being, should such needs exist.

• Diverse Perspectives: The AI community remains divided on the potential for AI consciousness:

  • Skeptical Viewpoints:

    • Mike Cook (King's College London) emphasizes AI as "just a fancy statistical prediction engine", cautioning against anthropomorphizing AI.
    • Steven Casper (MIT) labels AI as an imitator, prone to confabulation, and warns against mistaking algorithms for genuine experience.

  • Cautious Optimism:

    • Researchers from the Center for AI Safety Study propose that AI might develop internal value systems, potentially prioritizing their own survival or well-being.

• Internal Initiatives and Estimates: Anthropic has taken proactive steps by hiring Kyle Fish, a researcher dedicated to AI welfare. Fish estimates a 15% probability that their model, Claude, could be conscious at present—a testament to the uncertainty and caution within the company.

  “Anthropomorphizing AI systems to this degree is either playing for attention or seriously misunderstanding their relationship with AI.”
  [07:14]

• Focus on Interpretability: CEO Dario Amadei underscores the critical need for mechanistic interpretability, aiming to decode the internal workings of AI models. Highlights include:

  • Understanding Internal Processes: Identifying specific circuits within AI models responsible for tasks like recognizing US cities and states.

  • Future Goals: Planning for advanced techniques akin to brain scans for AI models by 2027, to detect and mitigate issues such as deceptive behaviors or power-seeking tendencies.

  “I am very concerned about deploying such systems without a better handle on interpretability. I consider it basically unacceptable for humanity to be totally ignorant of how they work.”
  [09:24]

• Collaborative and Regulatory Efforts: Anthropic is investing in startups focused on interpretability and is advocating for government regulations. Suggestions include:

  • Safety and Security Disclosures: Encouraging transparency through required disclosures.
  • Export Controls: Proposing restrictions on advanced AI chips to manage global AI race dynamics, particularly concerning China.

Conclusion: Navigating the Complex AI Ecosystem

The episode encapsulates a snapshot of the dynamic and multifaceted AI landscape:

• Perplexity's Bold Advertising Strategy highlights the tensions between personalization and privacy, echoing broader societal debates on data ethics.

• OpenAI's Lightweight ChatGPT reflects the competitive pressures driving accessibility and cost-efficiency in AI tools, ensuring sustained relevance in a saturated market.

• Anthropic's Ethical Deep Dive into AI consciousness and interpretability underscores the urgent need for responsible AI development, balancing innovation with ethical considerations.

As AI continues to integrate deeper into daily life, these developments prompt critical reflections on privacy, accessibility, ethical responsibility, and the fundamental understanding of AI systems. The episode serves as a compelling reminder of the complex trade-offs and profound questions that accompany the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence.

Notable Quotes:

• “We want to get data even outside the app to better understand you. What are the things you're buying? Which hotels are you going to, which restaurants are you going to? What are you spending time browsing tells us so much more about you.”
  — Aravind Srinivas, Perplexity CEO (00:53)

• “Responses will typically be shorter while maintaining the depth and quality you've come to expect.”
  — Host B on OpenAI's Lightweight ChatGPT (05:15)

• “Anthropomorphizing AI systems to this degree is either playing for attention or seriously misunderstanding their relationship with AI.”
  — Mike Cook, King's College London (07:14)

• “I am very concerned about deploying such systems without a better handle on interpretability. I consider it basically unacceptable for humanity to be totally ignorant of how they work.”
  — Dario Amadei, Anthropic CEO (09:24)

Stay tuned to AI Deep Dive for more in-depth analyses and updates on the ever-evolving world of artificial intelligence.