Ai search engine Perplexity is at it again, embroiled in a web of deceit and controversy as they attempt to raise a whopping $500 million at a.prepend their astronomical $8 billion valuation – a number that’s more than double their original $3 billion valuation when they suckered investors out of cash with promises of shares.

With their questionable ethics and shady business practices on full display, Perplexity still manages to rake in a whopping $50 million in annualized revenue from unsuspecting users and hopes to double down on their hot air with these new fundraising talks. Meanwhile, their botched search engine interface leaves users scrambling to find answers amidst the noise.

But it’s hard to take Perplexity’s word when they’ve been accused of unauthorized web scraping and plagiarism by news outlets and are now facing a cease-and-desist letter from The New York Times. CEO Aravind Srinivas’ claims of wanting to “work with publishers” ring hollow, especially when they’re not even getting the basics right – like properly attributing sources or respecting intellectual property.

And to make matters worse, OpenAI’s out-of-this-world valuation of $157 billion on a $6.6 billion funding round leaves Perplexity looking like the poor cousin in the limbo of AI-backed startups. With OpenAI boldly staking its claim in the search engine realm with SearchGPT, Perplexity’s viability is being called into question – can they really be a true competitor?

A Perplexity spokesperson declined to comment on the WSJ report, but sources close to the company claim they’re still reeling from the backlash and scrambling to clean up their act before investors get cold feet.