Perplexity will make AI images for you, but ChatGPT is the one doing the work

Perplexity has added AI image generation to its platform
The images are produced using the OpenAI model, which was recently released for ChatGPT
Perplexity also made OpenAI’s o3-mini and xAI’s Grok-3 models available

AI conversational search engine Perplexity can now add some AI visuals to your answer. And if those images look a lot like what ChatGPT would make, well, that’s because they use the same model.

If you’re unconvinced, the left image was generated using Perplexity, while the one on the right was created by ChatGPT, both with the same prompt. It’s like an AI ghostwriter, but for fantasy landscapes with dragons instead of a legal thriller sold in an airport.

Perplexity quietly added the feature to its web platform this week, offering three image generations per day for free users and unlimited generations for Perplexity Pro users. It’s pretty straightforward to use it.

Like with ChatGPT, you just have to ask the AI to “generate an image of” something, or use similar language to set up the prompt.

Don’t worry if you don’t have the model (officially GPT-4.1) chosen from the list of model options, either; Perplexity will automatically use it to produce the visual. That’s likely because none of the other models will make a picture on Perplexity at the moment.

you can generate images on perplexity now. the UI is cute and fun. we have also added support for grok 3 and o4-mini for model selection options (which already supports gemini 2.5 pro, claude 3.7, perplexity sonar, gpt-4.1, deepseek r1 1776), and looking into supporting o3 as… pic.twitter.com/RX6L98pf2gApril 25, 2025

Perplexity Pictures

That wasn’t the only addition to Perplexity’s abilities announced by the company, though. The AI assistant added a couple of other models to its stable.

xAI’s Grok 3 model is now one of the choices for Perplexity to use in answering questions, while OpenAI’s o4-mini model is now one of the “reasoning” model options.

This all fits with Perplexity’s approach to its AI platform. Rather than trying to build everything from scratch, the company is curating models and weaving them into its platform to streamline access.

It’s a smart play, especially considering how many people may want to try an AI tool, but aren’t willing to commit to just one among the many. Most people just want to ask a smart machine a question, get a clear answer, maybe see a cool picture of a flying whale while they’re at it, and move on with their lives.

The addition of ChatGPT’s image generator is a nice splash of color to the AI search engine. It will likely become especially popular once it joins the voice assistant on the Perplexity mobile app.