Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae helps Perplexity AI dunk on Google in this hilarious new ad

If there’s one thing Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae knows how to do, it’s survive high-stakes scenarios. What if, however, the real challenge wasn’t dodging red-light-green-light bullets or battling for a fortune, but instead… trying to get a straight answer from the internet? That’s the premise of a genius new ad from Perplexity AI, and it’s already making waves in the search wars.

The Premise: Lee Jung-jae vs. the Internet

In the ad, Lee finds himself trapped in a room (a nod to the high-tension Squid Game aesthetic), needing answers in order to escape. Naturally, he turns to the world’s most famous search engine, cleverly disguised as “Poogle,” only to be met with a deluge of unhelpful blue links. Frustrated, he switches to Perplexity AI, which swiftly delivers concise, clear answers, helping him break free.

But the real cherry on top? A sly jab at Google’s recent AI blunders. At one point, Lee asks how to make cheese stick to pizza, and Perplexity responds with the proper mozzarella selection before cheekily adding: "Don’t use glue.” That’s a direct hit on Google’s infamous AI-generated answer that once suggested using Elmer’s glue in pizza sauce.

Perplexity AI: The underdog taking on the search giant

For those unfamiliar with Perplexity AI, it’s a rising star in the world of AI-powered search. Instead of bombarding users with SEO-stuffed links, it aims to provide direct, conversational, and factual answers. Think of it as an AI-powered assistant that doesn’t just point you in the right direction; it takes you straight to the destination.

Founded in 2022, Perplexity has positioned itself as a challenger to Google, Bing, and even ChatGPT’s own browsing features. Unlike traditional search engines, which rely on ranking pages, Perplexity scours a variety of trusted sources and synthesizes clear, well-rounded responses. And as this ad campaign shows, it’s not afraid to call out the flaws of Big Tech’s incumbents.

“Instead of expecting users to parse through ads and SEO-driven page rankings that add clutter and waste time, the new era of search will be defined by concise, high-quality, and trusted answers with in-line citations,” Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas told me last year. “We built Perplexity to lead this shift. We believe a chatbot is the next interface for consuming information on the web, and we also believe people will start conversing more naturally with their devices, much in the same way they would with humans.”

Google’s AI missteps: A comedy of errors

While Google remains the search giant, its AI evolution has gotten off to quite a rocky start. The pizza glue fiasco is just one in a series of missteps. In 2024, its Gemini AI drew backlash for wildly inaccurate historical depictions in image generation, and Bard (its ChatGPT competitor) was caught fabricating facts in high-profile demos, while even Google’s own employees have criticized its AI rollouts as rushed and chaotic.

With users growing frustrated over Google’s increasing ad-heavy results and questionable AI responses, Perplexity’s pitch is clear: What if you could just get a straight answer, instantly? No SEO tricks. No ads. No nonsense. Just knowledge.

A marketing move that works

This Perplexity ad is more than just a fun internet moment. It’s a smart, strategic power play. It takes Google’s biggest weaknesses (confusing search results, AI mistakes) and contrasts them with Perplexity’s biggest strengths (concise, direct answers). And by enlisting an internationally beloved star like Lee Jung-jae, the campaign instantly grabs attention.

Whether this will significantly shake up the search landscape remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure: Perplexity just made AI search look really, really cool.

The post Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae helps Perplexity AI dunk on Google in this hilarious new ad appeared first on BGR.

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Squid Game’s Lee Jung-jae helps Perplexity AI dunk on Google in this hilarious new ad originally appeared on BGR.com on Tue, 18 Mar 2025 at 18:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.