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AI search start-up Perplexity has ramped up its competition with Google by releasing Comet, its new web browser, on Wednesday.
Built upon Perplexity's proprietary search engine, Comet is compatible with "all of your usual extensions, settings, and bookmarks," according to a Perplexity blog, meaning it's "a seamless switch" to make it your new default browser. It's initially being launched for Mac and Windows, with support on other platforms expected to arrive in the coming months.
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Perplexity CEO and cofounder Aravind Srivinas wrote on X Thursday morning that Comet would be available on Android devices soon.
"Comet reimagines the browser from the ground up," Perplexity wrote on its website. "It actively helps you ask, understand, and remember what you see. It connects the dots at lightning speed and assists with distracting tasks that steal your focus."
In the spirit of collaboration, Comet comes with its own AI agent, Comet Assistant, which is integrated directly into the browser and upon which users can offload a variety of simple and mundane tasks.
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You can ask the agent to go through your unread emails in the morning, pull out the messages from your coworkers, and provide a quick summary of each. That requires, of course, handing over your email data to Perplexity; the same goes for your personal calendar, notes app, or anything else you'd like Comet Assistant to be able to interact with and extract information from.
It's a good idea to review your workplace's AI policy, if it has one, or check with a superior before leaking any potentially sensitive information to Perplexity or any other chatbot.
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