Perplexity Takes on Google With AI-Powered Browser Comet

Perplexity has introduced Comet, its artificial intelligence (AI)-powered web browser.

“Comet transforms entire browsing sessions into single, seamless interactions, collapsing complex workflows into fluid conversations,” the company wrote on its blog Wednesday (July 9).

According to the post, the browser lets users answer questions, and carry out tasks and research from a single interface.

“Tabs that piled up waiting for your return now join one intelligent interface that understands how your mind works,” the company added. “Context-switching between dozens of applications, sites, and interfaces has stolen the focus and flow that bring joy to our work and fuel our curiosity.”

The browser also features an assistant that can conduct browsing sessions while users work, and can do things like compare what a user is reading to something they’ve already read, or help with more practical matters like comparing insurance plans or deciding on investments.

Beginning Wednesday, Comet is available to Perplexity Max subscribers, with plans to roll out invite-only access throughout the summer.

Perplexity Max is the company’s $200-a-month or $2,000-a-year subscription tier, introduced last week.

These products are rolling at a time when Perplexity is seeing double-digit query growth. CEO Aravind Srinivas said last month that the AI startup was handling 780 million queries each month in May, with that figure growing over 20% month over month.

Srinivas said Perplexity expects to keep growing at that pace, with gains driven by the browser and consumers’ weariness with “legacy browsers” such as Google’s Chrome.

PYMNTS looked at some of the challenges facing Google in a report last month, after Bank of America Global Research hosted a bulls and bears debate with more than 200 investors to explore Google’s prospects.

“Overall sentiment on the stock was mixed with concerns ranging from share loss and monetization challenges to Apple’s reaction to the DOJ trial outcome, but we found that there is a strong share of bulls on the stock,” according to a research report shared with PYMNTS.

The bears argued that users are spending more time with AI rivals such as ChatGPT, which could reduce how often people use Google and lead to fewer clicks on Google search results.

The bulls’ case included the fact that Google has superior first-person data thanks to things like Gmail, Maps, Android and others, giving it an edge as foundation AI models commoditize, becoming similar to each other.