Busy day for AI-based browsing. Just as Reuters reported that OpenAI is just weeks away from releasing a browser, Perplexity, the company behind the famous AI-powered “answer engine,” launched Comet, its own take at what browsing looks like in the age of AI. Here’s what it looks like.
Built on Chromium, Comet obviously uses Perplexity as its default search engine. It comes with a sidebar assistant that can summarize pages, answer questions, and even take actions on the user’s behalf (booking hotels, sending emails, or buying products).
The goal, according to CEO Aravind Srinivas as reported by The Verge, is to transform “entire browsing sessions into single, seamless interactions.”
But here’s the catch: for now, Comet is only available to the newly released Perplexity Max subscription tier, which costs $200/month. A broader rollout is expected soon, with access granted via a waitlist on Comet’s site.
Web search wars by proxy
Comet arrives as Perplexity continues to eye Google’s dominance in search, an effort that’s gained traction through a recent partnership with Motorola, ongoing talks with Samsung, and deals with international carriers to offer Perplexity Pro for free.
At the time of the Motorola deal, Srinivas told The Verge that such partnerships likely wouldn’t have happened if Google hadn’t gone through an antitrust trial, as “they would have bullied a lot of the OEMs.”
The company has also caught Apple’s attention. At Google’s antitrust trial, SVP Eddy Cue said that Apple had considered offering Perplexity as an optional search engine in Safari, and a recent Bloomberg report claimed the company has even explored acquiring Perplexity outright.
Interestingly, Perplexity has also expressed interest in acquiring Chrome, if regulators end up forcing Google to sell it. In the meantime, Comet offers full support for importing Chrome extensions, bookmarks, and settings in one click.
Currently, Comet is available only for macOS and Windows. Perplexity says it will continue expanding Comet’s capabilities over time, including more advanced agent-like features that go beyond traditional browsing.
Are you interested in AI-assisted browsers? Do you use one already? Let us know in the comments.
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