Perplexity, the startup behind the artificial intelligence engine that “answers,” has just launched its own web browser. The browser, called Comet, incorporates Perplexity’s search tools and AI assistant in a way that, according to CEO Aravind Srinivas, “transforms all browsing sessions into a single, seamless experience.”
Comet will be available only to users who subscribe to the Perplexity Max plan for $200 per month, before it is rolled out to a wider audience on an invitation basis. The browser uses Perplexity as its primary search engine, which provides artificially intelligent answers to queries based on results from across the web. It is also supposed to be able to buy goods on your behalf and help you book hotels.
The new AI browser comes as Perplexity continues to challenge Google’s dominance in search. This year, Perplexity partnered with Motorola to pre-install its assistant on new Razr phones, a move Srinivas told The Verge in April that would not have happened if Google had not gone through an antitrust lawsuit. “They would have intimidated a lot of OEMs,” Srinvas said.
Comet is built on Chromium, an open-source project supported by Google that powers major browsers such as Chrome and Microsoft Edge. Perplexity has expressed interest in buying Chrome if the court forces Google to sell the browser.
In April, Srinivas said that Perplexity was launching the browser because it “might be the best way to build agents.” In addition to Perplexity’s search integration, Comet has a built-in AI assistant that can answer questions about what you see on the screen, similar to how Gemini integrates with Google Chrome.
The AI assistant is located in the sidebar of Comet, and in addition to summarizing or explaining text, it can also perform agent tasks such as booking appointments, sending emails, or buying products. Srinivas says Perplexity plans to “continue to launch new features and capabilities for Comet” in the future.
For now, the browser is only available for Windows and Mac, and allows for one-click import of extensions, settings, and bookmarks.
