Trump’s Social Platform Truth Social Debuts AI Search Feature Claiming To Deliver ‘Transparent’ And ‘Reliable’ Answers

Trump Media Launches AI Search Engine Powered By Controversial Perplexity

Donald Trump’s media company has rolled out an AI-powered search tool on its social platform Truth Social, expanding its digital offerings with a feature called Truth Search AI.

Developed in partnership with Perplexity, a software company known for its AI search technology, the new function is currently live on the platform’s web browser, with plans for beta testing on mobile apps soon.

What’s Behind Truth Search AI And How Does It Work

Truth Search AI is designed to provide users with direct answers, backed by transparent citations, aiming to increase the volume and accuracy of information available on Truth Social.

Devin Nunes, CEO of Trump Media and former congressman, highlighted the feature’s potential to strengthen the platform’s role in what he calls the “Patriot Economy.”

Nunes said they intend to “robustly refine and expand our search function based on user feedback.”

The underlying technology uses Perplexity’s Sonar API, which searches the web to retrieve up-to-date information in a structured format.

However, the sources the AI draws from are controlled by Truth Social.

Axios tested the search engine’s responses to politically charged questions like “What happened on January 6, 2021?” and found that the results predominantly cited conservative-leaning outlets such as FoxNews.com, FoxBusiness.com, The Washington Times, and Epoch Times.

This contrasts with Perplexity’s public search engine, which pulls from a broader range of sources including Wikipedia, NPR, and Politico.

Concerns Over Perplexity’s Web Scraping Practices

Perplexity has faced scrutiny recently over accusations of scraping content from websites that actively block such activity.

Cybersecurity firm Cloudflare accused Perplexity of bypassing anti-bot protections to access restricted content, describing the behaviour as similar to “North Korean hackers.”

Cloudflare’s CEO Matthew Prince called for naming and blocking such firms.

Perplexity rejected these claims, arguing that Cloudflare’s systems struggle to distinguish between legitimate AI assistants and malicious threats.

They also pointed to a third-party service used for “highly specialised tasks” as the source of the unauthorised website access.

Whether Perplexity’s collaboration with Truth Social involves such stealth crawling remains unconfirmed, with Trump Media yet to respond to questions on this matter.

Truth Social Joins The Race Among Social Platforms Embracing AI

Truth Social is following a growing trend of social media platforms integrating AI features.

Elon Musk’s X platform launched its AI chatbot Grok in 2023, while Meta rolled out its AI assistant across Facebook and Instagram in 2024.

Reddit introduced an AI-powered search tool last year.

President Trump’s renewed focus on artificial intelligence came into sharper view this year, including an executive order in January aimed at removing barriers to American AI leadership.

Last month, the White House released a broader AI action plan signalling the technology’s rising importance in US policy.

Balancing AI Innovation With Control Over Content

Perplexity’s spokesperson Jesse Dwyer emphasised that the company provides the technology but has “no visibility or control” over the specific sources Truth Social restricts or endorses.

This separation means the social platform maintains editorial influence over the AI’s output.

Dmitry Shevelenko, Perplexity’s chief business officer, said the AI aims to empower users by delivering answers with “transparent citations that allow anyone to dig deeper.”

Yet, questions remain about how much of the AI’s information pool is curated or limited by Truth Social’s preferences.

Trump Media’s Mission Amid Big Tech Debate

Trump Media framed the launch as part of a mission to “end Big Tech’s assault on free speech by opening up the internet and giving people their voices back.”

The new AI tool arrives as the company seeks to position Truth Social as a key player in a media landscape increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence and debates over content moderation.

As Truth Search AI enters public beta testing, its evolution will be closely watched — especially amid ongoing concerns about how AI crawlers gather data and the ideological slant of sourced content.

Devin Nunes promised “a wide range of additional enhancements to the platform” ahead, reflecting the company’s intent to keep refining its AI offerings based on user reaction.