Perplexity’s Comet Browser Could Be Chrome’s Worst Nightmare

These days, we’re starting to see more people turn to AI instead of traditional search engines like Google. Why? The answer is simple: AI like ChatGPT can provide more in-depth responses without users having to comb through pages to find what they need. But these companies are content with just search. Perplexity has announced Comet, its AI web browser, which could pose a challenge to Google Chrome.

Perplexity launches AI web browser

It should be immediately obvious that the selling point behind the Comet web browser is the use of the AI technology Perplexity developed. The AI model will be integrated within the browser itself, meaning that it could challenge the way we surf and use the internet. Perplexity’s AI will be the browser’s primary search engine and uses AI-generated responses to serve up results.

The company claims that it can even be used to buy products on your behalf or book hotels. It all sounds good on paper, but unfortunately, we haven’t been able to try it out for ourselves. This is because at the moment, Comet has a waiting list. Only subscribers to Perplexity’s Max plan, which costs $200 a month, can download it. You can put your name on the waitlist, but we don’t know how long before your name is called.

If this doesn’t prompt Apple to hurry up and make a deal to buy Perplexity, we don’t know what will. The company is rumored to be considering buying Perplexity to use its tech to power Apple Intelligence. Now that Perplexity has its own browser, it has done a lot of the legwork for Apple. They could incorporate that tech into Safari, making iOS and macOS even more powerful than before.

The failings of AI

We’ve seen how powerful AI can be. However, it isn’t perfect yet. In fact, it is far from perfect. If you’ve ever used AI tools like ChatGPT or even Google’s AI Overview, you know that sometimes the answers are wrong. This is because AI models are taught on existing data.

This means that it only knows what it has been fed. If there is new information that has just come out, it might not be aware and give you the wrong answer. So, while using AI to learn about new things can be useful, there is always a possibility that it could be wrong. This is compared to you having to do your own research, where you can corroborate claims against other sources and publications.