Perplexity has today announced the general availability of Comet, a revolutionary new AI-powered web browser aimed at changing the way users engage with the web forever. At the center of this new platform is a powerful tool called Comet Assistant. This amazing new AI agent runs right inside your browser to automate repetitive tasks and improve your online experience.
The launch of Comet marks a significant development for Perplexity. This action sharply escalates their long-running jihad against Google, the dominant search engine market share leader. Aravind Srinivas, the CEO of Perplexity, wants you to know that Comet is about more than just being a browser. Further, it is central to their plan to compete against Google Search as the default provider of search for online information.
Comet Assistant is the foundation for this new browser. Users can try it out by launching a sidecar on top of any web page. With this feature, the assistant is able to visualize the page’s content and answer user questions related to it. For one, it can provide concise summaries of emails from key contacts. It sheds light on the best social media posts and responds to questions from a series of YouTube video or Google Docs presentations.
Comet Assistant can save you time by locating long-term airport parking. Beyond all these practical things, it’s packed full of awesome features! This new functionality is designed to make completing your day-to-day tasks quicker and getting more done easier.
Users should use Comet Assistant at their own risk. Even when AI doesn’t err, it can mislead. The AI tends to “hallucinate.” That means it is prone to produce hallucinated content, like wrong dates and inaccurate details. Overall, Comet Assistant is best when performing very simple tasks. Yet, it fails at deeper questions, exposing the technology’s limitations at this stage in AI development.
Srinivas emphasized the broader vision behind Comet, stating his ambition to “develop an operating system with which you can do almost everything.” In keeping with that mission, Perplexity wants to make Comet the most essential tool in your toolbox. This may eventually result in Comet being the default browser selection for a majority. Srinivas said getting this designation would be worth “unlimited retention” for Perplexity.
Perplexity’s early success shows a strong demand for the service, with the company processing 780 million queries last month. This figure really highlights the potential demand for innovative solution to browsing like Comet. Your users are keenly searching for break-outs from the search model. Perplexity is making all the moves to position itself as a dominant player in the digital ecosystem.
