Over the last few days, a curious and slightly confusing situation has unfolded within India’s AI community. Users trying to access Perplexity on the web specifically via the URL perplexity.in are being redirected not to the startup’s search-driven AI platform, but to Google Gemini, its biggest competitor in the global AI race. For people who casually type domain names in the browser, this sudden redirect feels like an intentional takeover. But as with most internet mysteries, the truth is more complicated, and far more revealing about how the AI industry is evolving.
The strange redirect has led to speculation: Did Google somehow purchase the domain? Is Perplexity abandoning India? Is it a prank? Or is it simply the old-school chaos of domain ownership that has resurfaced in a high-stakes technological era?
To understand what’s really happening, we need to unpack a few different layers: how Perplexity operates, how web domain ownership works, and why India has suddenly become such a contested battleground for AI tech.
A Simple URL, A Big Problem
The issue begins with a simple user habit. In most countries, people tend to search for brands using local versions of web addresses. Type amazon.in, and you land on Amazon’s Indian marketplace. Type google.de, and you see Germany’s localized Google page. Local domains often act like regional front doors to global services familiar, predictable, and aligned with how people navigate the internet.
So naturally, some Indian users went to perplexity.in expecting it to be the Indian portal of Perplexity, the AI search engine that has rapidly gained popularity among developers, researchers, and tech-savvy users. Instead of the familiar minimalist query interface powered by Perplexity’s models, they were instantly redirected to Gemini, formerly Google Bard.
It wasn’t a glitch on someone’s browser. It wasn’t malware. It wasn’t a DNS failure. It was a working redirect. And it raised eyebrows instantly.
People posted screenshots on X. Tech communities debated whether it was some kind of corporate warfare. And every explanation—from cyber-squatting to paid sabotage began circulating.
Yet the core reason is quiet and anticlimactic:
Perplexity never owned the “.in” domain.
Perplexity Is Built on a Single Identity: .ai
Unlike global tech giants, Perplexity has branded itself around the .ai domain. The company never chose to adopt regional extensions: not .in for India, not .fr for France, not .de for Germany. Even perplexity.com isn’t the main website. If you type it, you’ll simply get redirected to the .ai version.
Perplexity’s founders embraced a futuristic identity its core product isn’t tied to countries, governments, or even physical markets. It is a digital-first, universal tool meant to answer questions regardless of where users live. To them, the .ai extension represents their mission more accurately than .com or .org.
But this branding philosophy opened a vacuum. The .in domain is sitting out in the wild, available to anyone with money, patience, and a registrar account.
And someone took advantage of it.
Who Owns Perplexity.in? That’s the Big Question.
The obvious suspect in the minds of many users was Google. After all, Gemini is arguably Perplexity’s fiercest rival a tool backed by one of the largest companies on Earth, boosted by YouTube, Android, Chrome, search infrastructure, and a decade of AI research.
But here is the twist:
There is no public information that Google owns the domain.
Domain databases show no ownership tied to Alphabet or its subsidiaries. No press statement has been issued. No acquisition record is visible. That doesn’t completely rule Google out; large corporations often hide domain purchases through proxy registrars. But as of now, there is no proven paper trail.
So if not Google, then who?
It could be:
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A domain investor sitting on a valuable asset
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A troll
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A reseller hoping to auction it later
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A clever opportunist using a redirect for traffic leverage
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A local company experimenting with link-based monetization
In the global domain ecosystem, these scenarios are nothing new. Major companies constantly battle domain squatters, spoofers, arbitrageurs, and opportunists. Facebook, Tesla, Microsoft, and Apple have all paid millions to claim missing domains.
But this situation becomes more dramatic because the redirect points to a competitor. And not just any competitor Google, the former search monopoly that Perplexity has publicly challenged.
The Internet Has Short Memory: We’ve Seen This Before
This isn’t the first time such a redirect caused confusion. In early 2024, opening ai.com would take you directly to Google Gemini. It wasn’t a hack. It wasn’t a DNS failure. It was simply a domain redirect. Eventually, that redirect was turned off, and ai.com no longer points to Gemini. But the episode showed how a string of three letters could cause global speculation in the AI world. When every platform is fighting for attention, domain names become miniature battlefields.
The Perplexity redirect evokes the same déjà vu. For tech watchers, it feels like a continuation of the AI cold war subtle, unclear, and strangely theatrical.
Why India Matters So Much
This situation might feel like trivia a funny misdirection. But the timing matters. India has become a massive growth market for AI platforms. The country has a tech-literate user base, rapidly falling data costs, and hundreds of millions of young professionals who use AI for study, business, and everyday tasks. If Perplexity has momentum anywhere outside the U.S., it’s here.
India’s universities, startup ecosystems, SaaS companies, coders, and digital workers have embraced Perplexity because:
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It pulls sources automatically
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It cites links
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It feels like “Google + ChatGPT + research assistant” in one interface
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It responds faster than large general-purpose chatbots
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It doesn’t force people into creative-writing mode
Unlike ChatGPT, which behaves like a conversational tutor, Perplexity presents itself as a search engine. It is direct, factual, and increasingly preferred for research tasks.
That makes the redirect even more symbolic:
It breaks the experience at the exact moment the user decides where to go.
Type the wrong URL, and you land on a rival product.
Is This a Glitch or a Strategy?
When the redirect first appeared, some assumed it was a DNS malfunction maybe a temporary misconfiguration.
But there’s a problem with that theory:
DNS servers don’t spontaneously redirect to Google Gemini. Someone had to set it.
People also tried other regional URLs:
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perplexity.fr
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perplexity.cn
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perplexity.de
None of them redirect to Gemini; they simply return an error.
That means the India-specific redirect is deliberate, not random. It was set by a person or entity who owns the domain or controls its DNS records.
This creates three possible realities:
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A domain owner is monetizing traffic
They redirect to Gemini because it’s a high-traffic page, hoping to sell the domain later at a premium. -
A competitor is quietly nudging traffic
Some companies do indirectly pressure rivals by buying critical country domains. -
A playful internet troll
People do this for fun more often than you’d expect.
The absence of official statements keeps all three possibilities alive.
Why This Story Will Not Be Resolved Quickly
Perplexity has no legal claim over the domain unless:
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The name is formally trademarked in India
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The domain was registered in bad faith
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The owner tries to sell it using the Perplexity brand
Legal battles over domains move at a glacial pace. They involve arbitration, legal filings, receipts, and negotiations. In many cases, companies simply pay quietly to avoid drama. Think of Tesla’s domain saga Elon Musk famously had to buy Tesla.com after years of negotiations.
Perplexity might choose the same path:
Pay → Redirect → Move on.
Or it may simply ignore the issue, because the .ai identity is strong enough to survive the confusion.
A Small Incident That Reveals a Bigger Shift
This is not just about two letters.in. It is about how AI companies are learning to compete. Unlike social platforms, AI services don’t rely on influencer networks or viral video loops. Their value lies in access. The first step of access is typing a name. Whoever owns that digital front door can influence the user journey. One week ago, nobody cared about Perplexity.in. Today, it has become an accidental billboard for Gemini. This tiny detail hints at a larger future: AI companies will not only fight using compute, models, and algorithms They will fight using branding, domain ownership, and psychological friction.
The redirect won’t define the future of Perplexity or Gemini. It might vanish tomorrow like the ai.com incident did. But it shows how fragile digital identity becomes when a fast-growing startup neglects the basics of internet real estate. A misplaced URL has turned into a miniature battleground. To know more subscribe Jatininfo.in now.
