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Perplexity AI has officially gone into the browser space with the release of Comet, its first AI-based web browser. Comet browser will be available only to customers on the company's $200 per month Max plan. A limited number of invitees who pre-signed through the waitlist will also be able to enjoy the new Perplexity search engine.
Comet's most prominent feature is its inclusion of Perplexity's AI-created search summaries as the default search experience. The browser also features Comet Assistant, an AI-driven side panel that can read and react to content on any given webpage. It can assist in summarizing emails, handling calendar events, opening tabs, and answering contextual questions.
Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas has touted Comet as something greater than a browser. He called it a leap towards creating a complete ‘operating system’ for day-to-day tasks. Srinivas thinks that making Comet the default experience for users will usher in ‘infinite retention’. The move is aimed at taking users away from the default search engines of Google and Microsoft.
Comet enters a more crowded market. The Browser Company's Dia and possible future moves by OpenAI to publish its own browser signal the growing interest in AI-first web browsing experiences. Google itself has incorporated AI features into Chrome, shifting towards a new generation of web surfing.
Early testing indicates that Comet Assistant is best suited to carry out simple tasks, like summarizing mail and reading calendars. However, it struggles with more complicated workflows, like booking travel or executing certain user instructions. The Perplexity AI broswer at times even made mistakes or hallucinated data.
In order to be fully functional, Comet needed deep permissions in the user's Google account. These include Gmail, Calendar, and browser history. This will undoubtedly be a point of concern for privacy-conscious users because this AI agent must run with very broad permissions.
Comet Browser is a bold approach by Perplexity to re-imagine how people search, surf, and multi-task on the internet. Whether it can earn trust and reliability will be critical to its success in challenging the traditional browser of Google and Microsoft.
Also Read:Dia Browser Beta Is Live: Built-In AI Assistant Changes How You Browse
