Perplexity's AI Comet Browser Gets Major Upgrade for Complex Multi-Tab Tasks

I just put Perplexity's AI Comet browser to the test with 7 tasks -- here's my verdict

The Comet browser from Perplexity claims to be more than just another browser or AI chatbot. Instead, it claims to be all of that put together into one neat bow. So I decided to put it to work. I wanted to see whether Comet could plan my exercise routine, organize my groceries, summarize the news, or even plan dinner. To find out, I ran several prompts that mirror real-life scenarios. The goal wasn't just to see if Comet could give correct answers; it was to see if it could feel like a real assistant. Could it understand context, balance priorities, and offer responses that were both useful and human-like? Over the next seven prompts, I found out exactly what Comet can do and where it still falls short. I tested its ability both as a chatbot and an AI browsing assistant. Prompt: "Create a new exercise plan for the days I work from home." Comet returned with a "home workday exercise plan" outlining a daily routine that targets everything from cardio and strength, to HIIT and lower body. For example: "Monday: Full Body Strength 5 min cool-down (hamstring and spine stretches)," and so on. It's simple enough, but not very creative unless you ask it to be specific based on your goals. An infographic would have been useful here for each workout, especially if I was starting a new exercise. There's no rush to replace your exercise app with Comet. Prompt: "Make a grocery list for two vegetarians for the week, including breakfast, lunch, and dinner." The AI assistant returned with a weekly grocery including variety, meal bases and essentials -- while assuming a balanced mix of whole foods, pantry staples and a few snack options. It organized breakfast, lunch, dinner and staples & snacks into section headings followed by their respective lists, with more than a dozen items. At the end of the list, it suggested only one of each weekly meal suggestion. But it did ask if I wanted other recipe ideas, or further dietary adjustments. Given the prompt, it delivered pretty straightforwardly and definitely suggested some items that you might not have considered before. Even if you have your weekly list logged in your Notes app, it's a useful way to refresh your weekly shop and try something new! If you wanted to go the extra step, you could utilise the assistant to look online to find some fun recipes to go along with it. Being able to return live websites for you to use is one of Comet's major benefits. Prompt: "Help me create a simple monthly budget with categories for rent, groceries, entertainment, and savings." Comet returned with a printable/downloadable table that included the requested categories. In the Notes section, it suggested what info to fill in its respective fields. It then provided concise instructions on how to complete each field and noted this framework will help track my basic living expenses and savings. It's useful if I wanted to copy the table into another digital space; and to that end, it also offered to format it for a specific app or in an Excel/Google Sheets table. Prompt: "Identify today's 3 biggest news stories, open 3 different viewpoints for each as tabs, and group them by topic." Normally, Perplexity is a brilliant tool for summarizing news. Simply ask the chatbot or browser to "Summarize the top news in the world in a couple of paragraphs," and you'll get a neat and easy summary in seconds. However, the benefit of Comet is that it goes a step further. I tried asking it to "Identify today's 3 biggest news stories, open 3 different viewpoints for each as tabs, and group them by topic." This pushes the tool further, asking it to not only find the news but then group it for me. It produced nine total tabs (be wary those with slow computers), covering three big news topics from different angles. Along with this, Perplexity gave me a complete report of each topic within Comet, so I didn't even need to read the tabs if I didn't want to. Prompt: "Book a table at 7 pm this Friday at a restaurant near me." This is one of the areas where Perplexity Comet stands out. It's not just another web browser or an AI chatbot, it is also an agent, able to complete commands on your behalf. I asked Comet to book a table for a restaurant near me, and then it went off on its own, checking what the highest rated restaurants are, looking at availability, and even completing the process of getting a table reservation (after asking me if I wanted to proceed). This also works with more specific requests. You can ask for vegetarian restaurants, ones described with a particular vibe, or a bar that offers more affordable drinks. Browser tool: Summarize Built in to the browser itself is a summarize tool, which scans the current webpage and extracts the key points, saving you time from reading the entire page's content. As you can see, it presented an overview of John Nugent's 'Bugonia' review for Empire, starting with key talent info, followed by the plot and a summation of the review itself. The greatest benefit here is that it integrates with the AI assistant sidebar. So you can both view a summary and interact with the content, ask follow-up questions on the summary, or extract quotes. Prompt: "Using my Gmail account, draft a polite email requesting a meeting reschedule, including a reason and proposed new time." AI has always been a great tool for drafting text, and Perplexity is no exception. I first asked Comet to "Draft a polite email requesting a meeting reschedule, including a reason and proposed new time." I got a pretty simple template, one that can be filled in, but lacks much specifics. I then tried asking Comet to use my Gmail account and fill in the email. This prompted the AI model to ask me the questions to fill in the gaps, including the time, the recipient, and why it was being changed. After answering these questions, Perplexity navigated over to Gmail, asked me to enter my email details, and filled in the email template; all I had to do was hit send at the end. Overall, Comet handled practical tasks impressively, from organizing my vegetarian grocery list and creating a budget tracker to suggesting dinner recipes and summarizing the day's news. Its responses were clear, efficient and genuinely useful for everyday planning. However, when it came to more personal or creative prompts, like designing a home workout plan or making a compelling email, Comet struggled a bit more. The answers lacked imagination and the subtle human touch, which came across as functional but generic rather than genuinely personalized.

Perplexity upgrades Comet to multitask across your tabs

The AI also now asks for user permission before acting directly in the browser Perplexity Comet Assistant was built to do things online on your behalf. A new update enhances the AI to do that on a much bigger scale, enabling the revamped assistant to work across multiple tabs and stick with more complex jobs for longer stretches. Comet is the center of Perplexity's AI-infused browser. The AI is ever-present while perusing the web, picking up tasks, and streamlining research and digital paperwork. The update provides Comet with a longer attention span and sharper web awareness. Comet also has a better sense of boundaries, with the AI now asking for permission before taking action in your browser. Comet's ability to handle more types of actions at once is the standout improvement. The AI can multitask across tabs and apps to complete tasks, mimicking human behavior. Instead of bouncing back and forth between tabs for research, data entry, and reference, Comet will look at all three for you at once. -- And the new version of Comet Assistant is better at parsing complex web environments. That means it can do more with less micromanagement. You can ask it to look at multiple websites for flight deals all at once, for instance. Of course, giving AI more capability means rethinking how it earns your trust. To that end, the team added a user control layer that puts you squarely in the driver's seat. If Comet detects that a task could run more smoothly by directly clicking links, filling out forms, or extracting data from a page, it will ask for your go-ahead. That choice persists through the rest of the task. Perplexity claims there's some measurable improvement with the upgraded Comet. Internal tests show a 23% improvement in successful task completion compared to the previous version. The real significance, though, is how well it handles multi-step instructions. Comet is much more likely to complete long, branching tasks that require context and follow-through. All of this is good news for the average user who opens a browser in the morning, gets distracted by ten unrelated tabs, and ends the day wondering what actually got done. Comet now works like a background assistant that notices the mess and offers to clean it up, like extracting data from school attendance portals to make sure you're on top of how often your child has missed class. While competitors like Opera's Neon and OpenAI's Atlas AI browser are experimenting with autonomous AI helpers, Comet has taken a practical approach. There are still limits, of course. Comet can't yet run entire projects without supervision, and it doesn't always understand nuance or prioritize tasks the way you might. But it's getting closer to something more reliable, within limits. But if you're bombarded with browser chaos, Comet might have enough virtual hands to sort everything out.