There’s a new browser on the horizon, but it doesn’t just want to show you the web. It wants to understand it for you. Enter Comet, the upcoming AI-powered browser from Perplexity, the company already making waves with its conversational, citation-rich search engine. Still in limited early access, Comet isn’t just another Chrome alternative. It’s something more ambitious: a rethink of what a browser should be in an AI-first world.
For decades, browsing has looked roughly the same. You open a search engine, type in a few keywords, scroll through blue links, click, scan, maybe open ten tabs, and repeat until your curiosity, or your patience, runs out. Chrome and Microsoft Edge have ruled this space, optimising for speed, sync, and tabs. But they still treat the web as a library of pages, not as something that can be actively understood. Comet flips that model on its head.
Comet: From search companion to intelligent assistant
At its core, Comet is built around the same AI engine that powers Perplexity’s popular answer-first search tool. But instead of confining those smart responses to a search bar, Comet spreads them across your entire browsing experience. It doesn’t just help you find information, it helps you work with it, question it, and move through it more intelligently.
Imagine reading a dense news article or a technical blog post. In Chrome, you’d likely open a new tab to Google unfamiliar terms or background context. In Comet, you can simply highlight the text and the AI will break it down, explain it in plain language, and link to sources. It’s as if your browser doubles as a personal tutor.
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