Perplexity AI, the rising artificial intelligence startup known for challenging Google with its real-time answer engine, has unveiled Comet, a new web browser purpose-built for the AI age. While traditional web browsers use AI as a tool that layers over the browsing experience, Comet was designed to make artificial intelligence a seamless, core part of the browsing experience.
AI Assistant At The Core Of The Browsing Experience
The central component of Comet is a persistent AI assistant that is baked right into the browser interface. When users interact with the browser, rather than switching back and forth between search engines, tabs, or extensions, they engage with the seamless AI sidebar where they can have articles summarized, follow-up questions generated, and complete tasks such as comparing products to drafting full emails in real time.
According to The Verge, Comet combines browsing, search, and action into a single workflow, driven by AI. “We are not just adding on AI, we are reconstructing the experience based around it,” Aravind Srinivas, Perplexity’s CEO, commented.
Conversational Search Without Leaving The Page
Comet’s biggest trump is contextual search. Users can highlight any text in a web browser and ask follow-up questions without entering a new tab or search engine. This innovation aligns with Perplexity’s bigger mission to make a more conversational, cited answering system and not traditional keyword-modeled search, which is already seen in the independent answer engine.
According to Tom’s Guide, this results in a cleaner, more natural research experience for professional and student users, who need quick and verifiable insight with as few distractions as possible, such as ads and irrelevant links.
Privacy-First Design
Comet offers, first and foremost, local-first data storage. Meaning all personal data, such as search history and lists of what you need to do, is stored on the user device, and does not go back into model training. The browser can also block ads and trackers, improving performance and usability.
Comet is currently in invite-only beta for Perplexity’s Max plan subscribers ($200/month), and is striving to create a new standard in AI-enabled browsing experience. Comet will also be supporting mobile and Linux in the future, which shows a move to browsers that think, act, and otherwise adapt, like the users themselves.
