Perplexity on Wednesday launched its first AI-powered browser, called CometMarking the newest effort of the runway to challenge Google search, as the primary Avenue people use to find information online.
At launch, Comet It will be available first to subscribers of the 200-month maximum plan of Perplexity, as well as a small group of guests who signed a waiting list.
Comet’s main phrase is AI’s search engine of Perplexity, which is pre-installed and configured as the default, placing the core product of the Company-AI generated summaries of search results leading and central.
Users can also access Comet Assistant, a new AI agent of perplexity that lives in the browser and aims to automate routine tasks. Perplexity says that the assistant can summarize emails and calendar events, manage tabs and navigate web pages on behalf of users. Users can access Comet Assistant by opening to sit on any web page, which lets the AI agent see what’s on the web page and answer questions about it.
Perplexity has published several products and initiatives in recent months, but no one feels as consistent as a comet. The company’s general manager, Aravind Srinivas, significantly rushed Comet’s launch especially, perhaps because he sees it essential in the Battle of Perplexity against Google.
With comet, perplexity aims to reach users directly without having to go through Google Chrome, the most popular browser at the moment. While AI-powered browsers present unexpected territory for many users, Google itself seems convinced that this is the directional browsers: The search giant deployed several AI -integrations in Chrome In recent months, not to mention AI -modeAi -search product with striking resemblance to perplexity.
Srinivas said in March That his goal with a comet was to “develop an operating system with which you can do almost everything,” enabling AI of perplexity to help users through programs and websites. Become the default browser for users can translate to “Infinite Retention”, Srinivas said in Junewhich would obviously lead to more requests for perplexity.
This said, a comet enters a crowded arena. While Google Chrome and Apple’s Safari holds most of the market, the browser company launched AI-powered browser, DIAIn June, this seems to offer many same functions as a comet. Openai also reportedly considered launching their own browser to compete with GoogleAnd even hired some key members of the original Google Chrome team in the last year.
A comet could get an initial leg in the browser wars if a significant piece of perplexed users sign the product. Recently Srinivas said that perplexity saw 780 million questions in May 2025, and that the company’s search products see more than 20% growth month after a month.
Grabbing Google’s search is not a small task, but perplexity seems to have the right idea by launching a browser of your own. But the runway team may find even more difficult to convince users to change browsers than to remove them from Google’s search.
Hands on with a comet
The most unique aspect of this browser seems to be a comet assistant. During our testing, we found the AI agent of Comet to be surprisingly helpful for simple tasks, but it quickly collapses when given more complex requests. Using a comet assistant to its fullest potential also requires you to deliver an uncomfortable level of access to perplexity.
My favorite way to use a comet assistant, so far, loads it into the sitting while browsing the net. The on-browser AI agent of perplexity can automatically see what I look at, so I can simply ask it questions without needing to open a new window or copy and paste text or links. It’s right there, and it always has the context for what I’m looking at.
Comet assistant could answer questions about posts on social media, YouTube videos, and even phrases I just wrote in Google Doc. I imagine this will rationalize workflows for millions of people who send screenshots, files and links to Chatgpt all day.
Next, I tried to get a comet assistant to look at my Google calendar. But before I could do that, I had to give perplexity a significant access to my Google account – a lot of access. Just look at how long this list is.
I have to say, giving perplexing permission to see my screen, send emails, look at my contacts and add events to my calendar made me a little uncomfortable. But it seems that AI agents need this kind of access useful.
However, a comet assistant did a reasonably good job of looking at my calendar. It let me know of some upcoming events, and offered me advice on when to leave my home, and how to navigate public transport, to achieve those events.
The assistant was also able to summarize emails that I received that morning from remarkable shippers – in my case, major companies and technology companies with upcoming news. I found that AI agents have a very difficult time analyzing what is important in an email inbox, but a comet assistant performed pretty well.
But a comet assistant fails at more complicated tasks. For example, I tried to ask it to help me find a long-term parking lot at San Francisco airport for an upcoming trip, specifically places with good reviews that cost less than $ 15 daily.
The assistant offered several options that seemed to match the criteria, so I asked it to reserve a place at one of the places for the dates I would leave. The agent sailed the parking lot’s website for me, entered dates, and even some of my information, then asked me to review what it did and check.
It turned out, a comet assistant hallucinated and entered completely wrong dates, then telling me that the dates I wanted were reserved, but still wanted to make me complete the check anyway. I had to tell the AI agent that the dates were non-negotiable, and asked it to find another place. It hit the same problem again.
AI -agents who miss key details like this are not new. My experience with Openai agent, operatorand The previous purchase agent of perplexity gave similar results. Clearly, hallucinations stand in the way these products becoming real tools. Until AI -companies can solve them, AI agents will still be newness for complex tasks.
However, Comet seems to offer some new skills that may simply give perplexity a leg over competition in the modern browser wars.
