Perplexity’s homepage shows cards for news, stocks, weather, and sports — similar to a web portal. You can click on them to dig deeper or check updates quickly.
Yahoo.com for comparison:
Why these cards?
Other AI tools like Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude use similar cards to show what they can do. Perplexity’s cards do the same, but they also borrow ideas from old-school web portals. They cover basic utilities—news, weather, sports—that most people care about. This keeps users coming back and might even make them set Perplexity as their homepage.
Besides, models are getting commoditized, and most people don’t really care about or know how to compare these models. By offering familiar, everyday content, Perplexity stays relevant and useful.
News: a closer look
Unlike other general-purpose chatbots, Perplexity is an answer engine. It’s mainly for research, not for giving advice, summarizing text, or writing help. These news cards let people quickly see how Perplexity works in action.
When you click a news card, it takes you to a page that’s user-generated (its official name is…. Page). These pages are better structured than regular news articles. They’re easy to scan, and all sources are cited so you can check the facts yourself. (An example)
At the bottom, there are related questions. From my experience, those are good questions: they’re relevant, spark curiosity, and make users click to learn more. You can ask your own follow-up questions, too. This design boosts engagement and helps people see how useful Perplexity can be for research.
News is also a gateway to curiosity**.** But first, let’s take a look at Perplexity’s marketing materials.
Perplexity targets curious people. But even curious folks don’t have research questions all the time. However, most do read news. These cards feed that curiosity, and the latest trending news keeps things relevant.
On a side note, Pages being user-generated is a smart choice. When a user’s article gets featured on the homepage, it gives them recognition and shows their work has value. This encourages users to create better Pages, making them more likely to use Pro searches (advanced model queries that come with the paid plan).