What the Tech: Perplexity browser
You’ve probably tried a few different web browsers over the years. Chrome, Safari, Firefox, maybe even Edge. But none of them work quite like a new one called Comet.
Comet is built on the Perplexity AI platform, which works similarly to ChatGPT or Google Gemini. You can use it to ask questions, summarize content, write articles, brainstorm ideas, and get help with just about anything you’d normally turn to AI for. But what sets Comet apart is how it combines AI assistance directly with your web browsing.
Here’s what that looks like in action.
When I searched for popular Christmas toys in Google Chrome, I was hit with dozens of links. News stories, YouTube videos, blog posts, shopping sites. It was a lot to sort through.
Comet, on the other hand, returned a much simpler result. Just a few links, a concise summary of the most popular toys, and suggested follow-up questions if I wanted to dig deeper. It cut through the noise and gave me exactly what I needed.
Looking for a football schedule? I searched for the Denver Broncos’ upcoming games. Chrome displayed a mix of last year’s stats, recent articles, and extra clutter. Comet presented a clean layout with game times and TV channels. Simple and fast.
But where Comet really feels futuristic is with its built-in AI assistant.
I asked it to book tickets for the Titanic Museum in Belfast. I entered the date and time I wanted. The assistant took over, finding the ticketing website, selecting the right times, filling out the form, and adding the tickets to a shopping cart. All I had to do was enter my credit card information and confirm the purchase.
It can even make restaurant reservations and perform similar tasks on your behalf. It acts like a personal assistant built right into your browser.
Another major difference is privacy. Unlike Chrome and some other browsers, Comet does not track your browsing behavior, show you ads, or sell your data to advertisers. That alone might be enough to get some users to switch.
But it’s not without potential concerns. Security researchers have pointed out that if a malicious website were to load code that tricks the assistant, it could potentially perform unintended actions or expose sensitive information. Like anything new in AI, the power comes with some risk.
As of now, Comet is only available to paying subscribers of Perplexity and only on desktop. There’s no mobile browser yet.
Still, it is one of the most impressive AI-enhanced browsers I’ve seen. It’s fast, smart, and capable of doing more than just finding answers. It helps you take action.
Pretty soon, we might not just ask the internet for answers. We’ll ask it to do things for us.
