It’s hard to believe it’s been almost a year since I started working on my book about the use of AI in academic research. The pace at which things are moving is honestly staggering. Every few weeks, there’s a new feature or tool that shifts the landscape entirely especially when it comes to research workflows.
We’ve seen the rollout of deep research capabilities in tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini. NotebookLM also got a major upgrade; it now lets you build mind maps, generate graphs, and even create audio overviews of your content. DeepSeek has entered the scene as well, offering a free alternative for those who can’t or don’t want to pay for ChatGPT or Claude. Personally, I’m not quite sold on it yet, but it’s good to see more options emerging.
In short, AI just keeps evolving and with it, the ways we approach academic research are evolving too. A few days ago, I wrote about the “Projects” feature in ChatGPT and Claude, available to premium users. In today’s post, I want to introduce you to a similar feature from Perplexity AI. It’s called Spaces, and I think it’s worth paying attention to.
What Are Perplexity AI Spaces?
Spaces in Perplexity AI are very similar to the Projects feature in ChatGPT and Claude. They give you a dedicated workspace where you can organize chat threads, upload relevant files and documents, and even collaborate with fellow researchers. In a nutshell, Spaces let you build a tailored knowledge hub with the ability to search both the web and your personal files.
You can create a Space for a specific research project, give it a name, and set custom instructions that guide how the assistant should respond. Want it to take on a specific role, say, a critical reviewer or literature analyst? You can do that. You can also upload documents directly into the Space and interact with them through conversation.
For researchers already using Perplexity, I’d argue that Spaces is one of the most powerful features you should be taking advantage of. It gives you a persistent workspace where your files and chat history live together. That means you can return to your Space at any time and pick up right where you left off.
Let me give you a concrete example. Say you’re working on a literature review about the use of AI in education. You’ve already gathered a handful of research papers and articles. Now you create a Space in Perplexity called AI in Education – Lit Review. Upload all those documents, and from there, you can ask the assistant to do things like:
- Summarize each paper
- Highlight common themes or research findings
- Compare arguments and counterarguments
- Identify gaps in the literature
- Evaluate whether your research question has already been addressed
This sort of dynamic interaction with your sources can save hours of manual work. Now here’s where Spaces really gets flexible: you can choose how your search is conducted within a Space. From the search bar, you can pick between:
- Files – to search only your uploaded documents
- Links – to search from any URLs you’ve added
- Web + Files + Links – to combine everything for a broader search
You can also temporarily attach files to a query using the Attach button. These don’t get saved to the Space and are only used for that specific thread. Pro users can upload up to 50 files per Space.
And if you’re working with a team, you can invite up to five collaborators (Pro plan required). Anyone you invite can access the Space and view or interact with the uploaded files.
A quick note on file storage: files uploaded to a Space stay there until you delete them manually. They’re used as part of your searches alongside web results, which makes for a much more focused and personalized research process. On the other hand, files you attach to a one-off thread (outside of Spaces) are automatically deleted after 30 days.
It’s also worth noting that while anyone can create and use Spaces to organize threads and collaborate, the ability to upload and use files in searches is reserved for Perplexity Pro and Enterprise Pro users. So if you want the full experience, upgrading is the way to go.
Final thoughts
Spaces in Perplexity AI and Projects in ChatGPT and Claude are an important AI-powered tool that you should definitely take advantage of in doing your academic research. The benefits are multifarious from refining one’s research problem to identifying research gaps. Iterate and experiment with the feature to learn more about it.
