Perplexity's Comet: The AI-Powered Browser Challenging Chrome's Dominance

I got a glimpse of the Internet after AI, and it was terrifying

I love trying new software, especially browsers, because while I haven't been able to get away from Chrome or Chromium, I don't like that Google has an effective stranglehold on how we perceive the Internet. It's not exactly about finding a better browser for me, but one that helps me work better, whether having a less cluttered UI or bringing new features that transform how my brain can parse data. This search isn't about not being satisfied, or about hating Chrome (because I've used it since beta, and it feels like home in the same way Netscape used to), but about the primary use of browsers for me -- hard research. As such, any window showing me search engine home pages is fine, but many browsers try to cram features into my view, ruining them. Brave feels like an arcade hall of sensory overstimulation. Firefox hasn't felt the same for years, Vivaldi crowds me with the sidebar, Opera doesn't know what to do with itself, and Safari no longer works on Windows. So whenever a new browser comes out, I'm always on the waitlist for early access. The latest to grace my desktop is Perplexity.ai's Comet, which is Chromium-based but integrates its AI agent into pretty much everything, giving me a glimpse of the future if the AI bros get their way. Spoiler alert: It's a lot more text-based and boring than the Internet intended, and I can't say I like it all that much. 9 browser extensions to power up your personal productivity Turn your web browser into a productivity powerhouse with these top extensions Posts What is Perplexity Comet anyway? It's part web-browser, part web-crawler, and all-AI Comet is Perplexity's AI-infused Chromium-based browser that can perform tasks on your behalf. These can range from simple website summaries to more complex things like booking flights or restaurant reservations. The trick here is that you can leave the AI assistant working on whatever you've tasked it with and continue browsing or doing other things, and it'll let you know once it's finished. Comet feels like vibe browsing, for the vibe coding generation. Comet feels like vibe browsing for the vibe coding generation. Except it's more than that. For the most part, it runs in the background, giving me a little bit more time to concentrate on whatever important tasks I have to do. It also (mostly) replaces the Electron app used as a front-end for Perplexity on the desktop, which is nice because it's one fewer application to run on my desktop while I'm working. The always-on AI Assistant has some neat tricks The browser's core runs an agentic AI Assistant powered by Perplexity's models, which opens the door to some admittedly neat functions. In the time I've been using Comet as my primary browser I've tried letting it do the following: * Book appointments, like the hairdresser or restaurants * Read my email inbox and sort it by importance, using indicators like if you've responded to that sender before * Create and manage tasks on my calendar * Remind me of any calls I have scheduled * Do deep research into topics and sort the results into easily readable reports with linked sources and further reading * Uploaded documents to ask for summaries, formatting, and pull important specifications out I've mostly used the text-based interface, but I could use voice commands with a microphone, although that's not my preferred mode. You can ask follow-ups to any question or task, and the assistant will offer some suggestions of further queries on its own, which is nice if you're stuck on what to ask. Comet See at Official Site Expand Collapse I'm unconvinced that AI is what my browser needs But at least Perplexity isn't trying to hide it At the moment, the consumer side of AI is split between companies that integrate AI into programs we already use and companies that create new AI-based programs. Both promise to make things faster for the user, but do they? The browser has been figured out (mostly) for decades, as has the Internet it displays. I can't say Comet doesn't have some useful features, because it does, and as I get used to giving the assistant longer tasks, it's genuinely helpful, but I'm not sure if it's necessary. Perplexity does have one thing in its favor: showing every source it has scoured for data to collate. I've found a few times when it was hallucinating data that didn't exist on the source when I clicked through to check -- which is why I check every source any AI tool gives me -- but it's not often, and usually on obscure questions that don't have many public-facing answers. I paired NotebookLM with Perplexity for a week, and it feels like they're meant to work together The AI duo I never know I needed Posts 12 When everything is an AI summary, where is the Internet? The killer feature of this browser is also its biggest flaw The Internet had so much promise as a place where everyone could have a voice, find relevant information, and connect with other humans. Social media broke some of that, and so did the corporations behind it. So maybe AI-sourced summaries for every search are the next natural progression. After all, decades of sci-fi have promised us computers that could give us answers instantly, without us having to question whether they're correct. The problem is that the system isn't at that level just yet, which is fine if you know that going in and account for it. Not every user will, and that's a problem if the AI starts feeding negative feedback loops or rabbit-holes of conspiracy theories (with a few hallucinated details thrown in for good measure). Search engines have long been gatekeepers of the Internet. That's partly why Reddit was formed: to be the front page of the Internet and full of user-sourced information. However, that didn't work out so well once the bots got more sophisticated. AI summaries are yet another layer of gatekeeping, except you can't always see the sources, and some of the data comes from an impenetrable black box that you'd need high-level AI knowledge to understand, even if you could peer in. The Internet suffers as a result, even if personal productivity gets boosted. AI search summaries break my favorite search trick Case in point. One of my favorite research tools is to use the following Google Search string to limit the search to a single domain. Usually, it gives me a list of the hyperlinks that reference my query, and I find it handy for research and interlinking into articles. site:[domain] [query] The exact search on Comet gives me a synopsis of the articles mentioning the search terms, plus a tab with the source links used. I can also query the assistant for more relevant searches or select related questions. That might seem more useful, but it also pulls sources from other websites, no matter how many ways I try to limit its reach. 3 Perplexity features that help me study smarter, not harder Smarter study sessions > late-night cramming. Posts 2 The post-AI Internet looks like Wikipedia, only without the editors Here's the real crux of the matter for me. AI is not a primary source, and should not be treated as one. Ask any teacher, and they'll tell you Wikipedia is also not a primary source. Still, the site has a small army of editors and fact-checkers that (mostly) keep things accurate, plus you can see the primary source links for any given piece of data. AI also doesn't always act as you'd want, as we've seen with tools deleting production databases and other essential data. Should you be letting it roam through your email inbox and make reservations for you? I don't like this future vision of the internet, where all data is spoon-fed as AI summaries. It's the worst possible interpretation of what the Internet could be, reduced to a few meager lines of text.

I tried Perplexity's new browser and returned to Chrome in no time

I love experimenting with new software. Whenever there's a new app or program from a renowned company, I'm usually among the first in line to sign up for a beta version or an early invite to try it out. That's exactly what happened when Perplexity -- the AI company -- launched its new web browser -- Comet. I signed up for an invite, and although I didn't receive one on time from the developers, a friend of mine who did was kind enough to share it with me. I installed the browser, set it up with my Google account, and it was ready to go in no time. I was thoroughly impressed with the onboarding and setup process, since it was both simple and aesthetic. However, things started to take a turn when I ditched my everyday browser of choice -- Google Chrome -- and decided to use Comet to access the internet. Using the browser for an extended period made me realize how I prefer a simple, no-frills experience when browsing the web. I've tried several browsers in the past, like Arc and Brave, but have always fallen back to Chrome. While I find additional features helpful, I don't consider them a part of the core browsing experience -- which is why I felt that Comet isn't made for me. If it all sounds too convoluted -- don't worry. I'll explain. I ditched Chrome years ago, here are 5 open-source browsers I recommend instead There are better options out there Posts 22 There are some handy features All's not bad It's not that I disliked every aspect of the browser right from the get-go. In fact, there are several features that I found to be handy. For starters, Perplexity's AI assistant resides on the sidebar at all times to help you with answers to questions, summarizing articles, finding specific information from a webpage, conducting deep research on a topic, etc. I primarily used this feature to summarize YouTube videos or generate a shopping list consisting of all the ingredients required for a recipe I was looking at. Quite handy, if you ask me. Comet also replaces the default search engine on Chrome (Google) with Perplexity, so you get detailed answers to all your questions with relevant sources. Perplexity is among the more reliable AI engines, so I have no complaints there. Then, there's the ability to read information from open tabs to compare products or ask questions related to them. Finally, I like how there's a built-in ad-blocker and a privacy mode that restricts interaction with the cloud to as little as possible. These are nice touches that certainly improve the browsing experience. But why do I need a browser for this? A few redundancies All the features I mentioned above -- while impressive -- were already available to users much before the inception of Comet. Pretty much any AI chatbot, like ChatGPT, Grok, Claude, Gemini, or even Perplexity itself, can perform all of these tasks. The only difference is that you would have to paste the link to the webpages manually. It certainly adds more friction, but not enough to convince me to switch to a new browser altogether. Similarly, summarizing emails, drafting replies, etc., are also available on Google's Gemini AI -- and it even integrates directly with Google's services. That brings me to the fact that currently, Comet is only available on an invite-only basis, or to those with Perplexity's Max-tier subscribers. The Max plan costs $200 per month, which is rather expensive. While there will definitely be a free version, I'm sure the company will skimp on some important features to push users to subscribe to the premium tiers. At that point, you might as well use any other free browser and get a premium plan for whichever LLM or AI assistant you want. Heck, you can even self-host an LLM to eliminate costs. Apart from the monetary angle, I also found Comet to be way too cluttered and clunky for a browser. I like my browser to be minimalistic and simple. While the design elements look attractive, I'm someone who prefers functionality to form. The extra AI features also eat up more RAM, which isn't ideal. Stick to the browser you like Every few months, there's a new browser in town that gets a lot of praise initially, either for its unique aesthetic or feature set. That said, the luster fades with time, and the features that seemed lucrative at the start don't seem that helpful anymore. To me, that's exactly what Comet is all about as well. I appreciate how the browser has seamlessly integrated an AI assistant to summarize emails, gather data from open tabs, and enhance your browsing experience in several ways. However, these features aren't necessarily unique, and the fact that you need to grant Perplexity access to personal data may raise a few red flags. I've got to give it to the company's designers, though -- it's definitely one of the most attractive-looking browsers in recent years. Comet Comet is an agentic AI-powered browser built on Chromium. See at Official Site Expand Collapse Zen Browser is better than Brave, Arc, and Chrome, and I can't recommend anything else If you're looking for a new browser, Zen Browser might be one of the best out there. Posts 45

I just tried Perplexity's new Comet AI browser -- and now I don't think I can go back to Chrome

As I open up the link to get started on Perplexity's new Comet browser, I'm greeted with a mysterious sound, graphics of spinning planets and a sense of grandeur. Is it over-the-top? Yes. But at the same time, it feels right. Perplexity recently took arguably its biggest step as a company, launching its own internet browser. Think Google Chrome, Firefox, or Safari. The big difference is this is an entirely AI-powered browser. What does that mean exactly? Well, along with the usual Perplexity function of being both a chatbot and an internet search tool, blending search results and summaries, this new tool also includes your very own AI assistant. This is essentially an AI feature that does the heavy lifting for you. It can find and book restaurants, track down the best prices on a new laptop, or scan through your emails and compile a report of everything you've been sent over the last month. The Perplexity team gave me access to the new Comet browser to try out. I've spent some time using it, with one real question in mind: Is AI-powered browsing really the future or just a gimmick? After the theatrics of logging in, complete with choosing my planet design (I went with Mars, but I'm not really sure what that means), putting it into Dark Mode, and installing the new browser, I was in. Comet looks almost completely identical to the existing Perplexity experience. There's a box to type your searches and questions, the discover and spaces tabs to the left and your account settings. However, this is now a complete browser. It is built on the Chrome system so it will look very familiar to any Google Chrome users. I logged in using my Chrome account and all of my bookmarks carried over. Just like any browser you've used before, there are tabs at the top and you can even set Comet as your default browser. All of this is interesting, but right now it is essentially Chrome with a few extra AI tricks. It's the assistant that really puts Comet in a space of its own. I tried using it on a variety of tasks to see how it would handle them. Going out to eat is a lovely experience. Finding and booking a restaurant, on the other hand, is not. With this in mind, I set Comet to work, saying: "Find me a well-reviewed vegetarian restaurant in Bristol that is relatively affordable and book me a table for next Thursday at 7 pm". I then went and made a coffee. I came back to my laptop to find a long string of actions from Comet. It had tracked down a variety of restaurants that fit all of my requirements and was desperately scrolling through each one to find a table. When you use the assistant, Perplexity lists out every single step it takes. It is painfully granular, but when it is handling your finances, calendar, and accounts, this is exactly what you want. I scrolled through its steps, seeing it run each restaurant against my requirements, then trying to book each one in order of which best fit what I was after. It finally found a table that would fit what I had asked for and asked if I would like to book it. I said yes, gave it my phone number and email, and voila! I had a booking confirmation sent to my email. Where I normally would have had to research restaurants and check each one's booking availability, all I had to do was prompt Perplexity, go get a drink, and come back to say yes. An incredibly reassuring feature is that Perplexity never completes the process without checking first. In other words, even if you prompt it to find and buy you a new pair of shoes, it will ask at the end if you're still sure. It can also just add something to your basket or save the item if you're not actually ready to buy yet. While I made my coffee, waiting for my table to be booked, I noticed I was running low on coffee beans. In the thrall of my new AI browser power, I instantly made my next prompt request: "Find me a 500g bag of Lavazza coffee beans at their lowest price and put them in my basket". A short period of time later and Comet had searched the internet, found a deal on at Amazon UK, and added the beans to my basket. It's a very small request, and realistically would have taken me no time at all to do myself, but it's amazing how quickly it can be completed on these kinds of requests. I was once young and cool (I wasn't really), but now I am having to book multiple tips to my local recycling centre to dispose of garden waste. Annoyingly, the form to book an appointment takes a long time, especially when you do it quite often in one week. I instead handed the work over to Comet. I gave it the details it needed and told it to go and book an appointment. Other than checking a few times if I still wanted to finish the booking, it powered through the forms, filling in all of my information. I then tried this same process with a range of other booking sites and even a questionnaire. Just like the coffee bean purchase, this is entirely unnecessary, but there is something quite satisfying about not having to get stuck in these forms for ages. While I haven't had an opportunity to try this with Comet right now, I would be interested to see if it is able to sit in a digital queue, buying tickets when its space comes up. It's another small but potentially really useful experience from the tool. I was admittedly skeptical about the rise of AI agents and browsers, but Perplexity's Comet has changed my mind. In fact, I think Google is going to face its biggest competition this year to keep its crown as king of the search. Even though Perplexity is piggybacking on the Chrome structure, the addition of the assistant is just so useful. And even outside of that, having such an advanced AI summary built into your browser is pretty neat in absolutely any search. As OpenAI gears up to launch its own AI browser, it seems clear that this is the future of search. Chrome's days could be numbered.