Perplexity debuts Comet, a free AI browser (that at the moment prices $200)
On Wednesday, Perplexity.ai debuted Comet, its first entry into the browser market that does away with Google and Microsoft’s Bing in favor of its personal search engine.
Comet will likely be accessible for each Home windows and macOS platforms, the corporate mentioned.
Perplexity has locked Comet behind a, um, perplexing pricing mannequin. Though Comet is technically free, Perplexity has made it accessible for now through a waitlist. For those who’d prefer to obtain it, you possibly can wait to your flip to reach or subscribe to Perplexity Max, the corporate’s $200/mo plan that features entry to its newest AI fashions.
What units Perplexity aside is that the browser doesn’t use a conventional third-party search engine. As an alternative, it depends upon Perplexity’s AI engine to offer AI summaries of the solutions. It can also carry out duties that different AI engines can do, similar to summarizing internet pages. The Browser Firm of New York has additionally launched an AI browser known as Dia.
Our colleagues at TechCrunch took Comet for a spin, and located the browser helpful, although it couldn’t deal with advanced duties. One disconcerting side: if you would like Comet to have the ability to assist arrange your personal life, you’ll want to present it entry to your personal info, similar to your calendar and e mail.
Comet additionally employs agentic AI, which sends off varied AI couriers to carry out duties independently, then waits to your approval. The issue? On this case, it didn’t work. When TechCrunch’s Maxwell Zeff requested Comet to hunt out and e book a parking house for an upcoming journey, issues went south.
“Seems, Comet Assistant hallucinated and entered fully mistaken dates, later telling me that the dates I needed have been booked, however nonetheless needed to have me full the check-out anyhow,” Zeff mentioned. “I needed to inform the AI agent that the dates have been non-negotiable, and requested it to search out one other location. It bumped into the identical drawback once more.”
Perplexity, certainly.
