Perplexity first teased its AI browser, Comet, in February. Today, the company began rolling it out to Perplexity Max subscribers, who pay $200 per month, with access available by invite only. The rollout will expand gradually over the coming weeks, prioritizing users on Perplexity’s growing waitlist.
Comet integrates the startup’s AI-powered search tools and assistant, aiming to “transform entire browsing sessions into single, seamless interactions, collapsing complex workflows into fluid conversations,” CEO Aravind Srinivas wrote on X.
Srinivas said he pitched Google “a long time ago” to make Perplexity the default search engine on Chrome, but the company declined. Meanwhile, search queries on Perplexity are growing by 20% monthly.
ADWEEK has reached out to Google for comment.
Elsewhere in Silicon Valley, OpenAI is reportedly preparing to launch its own AI-powered web browser designed to challenge Chrome’s dominance. According to Reuters, the browser is expected to debut in the coming weeks and will use AI to “fundamentally change how people browse the web.”
Sources told Reuters the browser is designed to keep some user interactions within a native ChatGPT-style interface, reducing the need to click through to external websites.
ADWEEK has reached out to OpenAI for comment.
The launch of Comet—and OpenAI’s upcoming browser—signals a growing effort by AI startups to chip away at Google’s dominance in search, which plays a key role in its ad business. Comet is built on Chromium, the Google-backed open-source framework that powers Chrome. Meanwhile, the rise of AI-native search engines like Perplexity and ChatGPT is already exposing cracks in Google Search’s stronghold.
Meanwhile, Google faces increased scrutiny from regulators amid an ongoing antitrust trial focused on its search dominance. Perplexity is already capitalizing on these regulatory tensions. Earlier this year, the startup struck a deal with Motorola to preinstall its assistant on new Razr devices—a move Srinivas previously said wouldn’t have been possible without the ongoing antitrust case.