Comet AI Browser: Is It Safe? Here's What It Can Do and How to Download Free Version

The new artificial intelligence-powered web browser called Comet is now live and available worldwide for free, Perplexity AI announced on Thursday.

Comet's primary feature is a sidecar assistant that aims to act as a personal assistant, capable of performing various tasks, including web searching, tab organisation, email drafting, and online shopping, among others.

Perplexity initially offered Comet for Perplexity Max subscribers in July for $200 (£147) per month, and the waitlist to get this browser increased in number to 'millions' of people.

The American software company decided to make Comet free to attract more users and beat the leading competitors like Google and other existing AI browsers, including OpenAI and Anthropic.

'We want to build a better internet, and that needs to be accessible to everybody,' Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas explained to Business Insider during a launch event in San Francisco on Wednesday.

Srinivas also noted that the free version of Comet will still come with a rate limit, unlike the paid one.

Promising Features

Comet has the ability to summarise webpages, generate key details and look through a series of links to make the users' online tasks easier. Perplexity wanted their AI-powered browser to help keep everyone away from low-quality content and concentrate on meaningful, high-quality research sources.

'I think slop is fundamentally going to be easier to create now, and it's going to be hard to distinguish if something is AI or human on the internet,' the Perplexity AI CEO also said.

Comet also comes with smart shortcuts designed to assist users in performing multi-step tasks using a simple one-word command anonymously. Users can come up with their shortcuts by describing their intended action, providing personalised names, and activating them using an 'I' query.

Add-on Offers

Perplexity's browser will also come with added features for a minimal cost. The software company revealed that they have new media partners for Comet Plus, the paid browser option.

By paying an additional $5 per month, users will have access to content from several media outlets, including CNN, Fortune, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and Condé Nast publication's The New Yorker and Wired, among others.

Other features are also coming, including the browser's mobile version and a feature that can handle multiple tasks asynchronously and simultaneously called Background Assistant.

Is Comet Safe?

While the concept of an AI-powered browser sounds promising, it may still pose a major privacy concern for users.

When interacting with chatbots like Gemini or ChatGPT, users still have some element of control with what they share with artificial intelligence. But with browsers featuring built-in AI, the AI will have more access to the user's personal information. It means the Comet will know all the details about the people who intend to use it.

How to Download Perplexity AI's Comet Browser

Users should visit the official Comet website to pick their desired platform. They need to follow the instructions for downloading and installing the browser from the on-screen steps.

After setting up the installed browser, users must sign in to their Perplexity account to synchronise the features. It would be best to try out the Assistant Sidebar to test several tasks.

Keep up to date with Comet's new features by checking Perplexity's official blog page.