TL;DR
Perplexity AI promises to clean up your chaotic research workflow: no more tab overload, no more dated SEO blogs — just smart, structured answers with clickable citations.
We put it through a real pressure test: One strategist. One laptop. One 5PM deadline from the CEO.
Forest Score: 77/100
✅ Excellent for founder decks, trend scans, and research sprints
🚫 Falls short for deeper strategy, technical nuance, and team use
🧠 Why This Matters for Business Leaders
Let’s be honest. Most internal research processes are broken:
Google search = SEO landfill
Internal wikis = outdated and buried
External help = too slow, too expensive
Your analyst = probably already doing 10 jobs
Meanwhile, your market isn’t waiting. It’s evolving fast.
You don’t just need tools — you need AI-native systems that help your team think, decide, and execute faster.
At Forest Technologies, we test AI tools in real business workflows — not demos, not hype.
The only question that matters: Can this tool help real teams move faster — without moving dumber?
🔬 The Real Scenario: The CEO Ping You’ve Seen Before
It’s 11:12 AM.
You’re a product strategist at a B2B SaaS company. Your CEO Slacks you:
“I’m speaking on a panel tonight. Can you pull together a 5-slide briefing on AI in manufacturing? Market size, real use cases, trends, top players. Need it by 5PM.”
No intern. No analyst. No time to go deep. Just one shot — and one tab open: Perplexity AI.
Your prompts:
“What’s the global market size for AI in manufacturing (2024)?”
“Recent examples of AI in industrial automation (2023–2025)?”
“Top trends in AI for manufacturing?”
“Which companies lead in industrial AI today?”
“Deck-ready quotes or stats with citations?”
💡 What Perplexity Got Right — and Where It Missed
In just 20 minutes, you had a working outline. Here's how it performed:
✅ Market Size: Gave recent figures from McKinsey, Deloitte, and Statista — all with clickable citations.
✅ Use Cases: Delivered real examples (GE, Bosch, Siemens) with context.
✅ Trends: Smart highlights — predictive maintenance, robotics, digital twins.
✅ Players: Hit the enterprise giants. Missed a few emerging startups.
✅ Quotes: Clean, verifiable, slide-worthy.
But...
❌ No control over source filtering (can’t prioritize academic vs. blog)
❌ Can’t “go deeper” — good for first layer, not multi-step synthesis
❌ No shared workspace — not made for collaboration
❌ Limited logic linking — answers are great, but they don’t connect across prompts
Still — for speed and clarity? It crushed it.
Forest’s NRI™ Breakdown – Perplexity AI
Neuro Roots Index™ = how smart, usable, and scalable an AI tool really is — based on 10 real-world pillars.
Forest's NRI
NRI tests one thing:
Does it help you build what actually matters?
1. Strategic Fit = Does it align with business goals or user needs?
2. UX Flow Logic = Is the journey intuitive, usable, and goal-driven?
3. Modularity = Can you reuse and scale what it builds?
4. Copy Quality = Does the writing feel clear, human, and on-brand?
5. Visual Design = Is the layout visually intentional and legible?
6. Data Awareness = Can it adapt to context, input, or audience?
7. Brand Sensitivity = Does it reflect tone, voice, or identity?
8. Collaboration Fit = Can real teams iterate, or is it solo-only?
9. Usability & Editing = How easy is it to refine and update?
10. Use Case Match = Does it work for serious builds, or just quick demos?
Total NRI Score: 77 / 100
The Real Value: Research Velocity
Perplexity doesn’t replace your team. It frees them up to think more and click less.
Think of it like this:
Your PM needs to explore a new vertical → 30 mins = draft discovery brief
Your RevOps lead wants GTM benchmarks → 15 mins = fast scan
You need investor prep → 10 mins = clean stats, sourced slides
It’s not flawless. But in a world where speed = strategic advantage, it’s a powerful ally.
What Forest Technologies Actually Does
At Forest, we don’t just review AI tools — we help your team build AI-native systems that actually scale.
That means:
✅ Custom research workflows ✅ Smarter decision pipelines ✅ AI copilots for founders, PMs, analysts, and ops ✅ Playbooks that get used, not just documented
Whether you're a startup moving fast or a team scaling faster — Forest helps you move with clarity, not chaos.
We don’t just “use AI.” We make it work for you.
🔮 What’s Next from Forest AI Lab
Anthropic’s Claude 3 claims it’s more thoughtful, safer, and better than GPT-4.
So we gave it a job:
🧠 Competitive intel
📊 Market mapping
🧭 Strategic synthesis
Can it reason, connect, and write like a sharp junior hire? Or is it just another well-spoken assistant?
Coming soon!!!
Got a Tool You Want Us to Test?
We’re building this series for you — the founders, operators, and builders trying to separate the real from the noise.
👉 Comment below or DM us your favorite AI tool, plugin, or “magic feature” — and we might break it down in the next episode of Forest AI Lab.
📬 Want to move faster with AI that actually works?
Let’s skip the hype. Let’s build smarter.
👉 Talk to a Product Strategist
You bring the problem.
We’ll help you solve it — faster, clearer, and with systems that scale.
