This new AI browser desires to kick Chrome off your laptop computer

There’s a recent participant within the browser wars, and this one’s bought AI swagger.

Perplexity, the US AI search startup backed by Nvidia, simply dropped a brand new browser referred to as Comet, aiming straight at Google Chrome’s crown. The concept? Redefine how we browse the web within the AI period, making “logging on” much less about looking for tabs and extra about getting prompt, good solutions.

Right here’s the heart of it: Comet comes with Perplexity’s AI search engine baked in, supplying you with real-time summaries of search outcomes and serving to you sift by means of info with out the standard problem. However the true kicker is Comet Assistant, an AI sidekick that really understands what you’re taking a look at in your display screen and may reply questions on it on the fly.

As a substitute of copying chunks of textual content into ChatGPT or your AI instrument of alternative, Comet Assistant will simply have a look at your open pages, social posts, movies, or on-line docs and get you the information you want then and there. Need a fast abstract of a ten,000-word weblog put up? Completed. Want to seek out the situation from a restaurant’s web site and add it to your maps? Simple. It’s like having a digital PA sitting in your browser, quietly dealing with duties within the background.

However there’s a catch: For now, Comet is simply open to Perplexity’s premium subscribers, these on the $200-a-month plan, with plans to develop to a wider invite listing in a while. It’s a transfer that alerts Perplexity’s want to get nearer to its customers with out counting on huge platforms like Chrome or Safari for distribution.

Perplexity’s CEO has been clear concerning the ambition right here: he desires to show this browser into one thing near an “working system for the web,” with AI serving to customers soar throughout websites, apps, and duties with out friction. Turning into your default browser? That’s the jackpot for any firm chasing consumer loyalty.

After all, it’s not like Google, Apple, and even OpenAI are sitting round doing nothing. Google’s reportedly engaged on extra AI search integrations, and hearsay has it OpenAI is eyeing its personal browser transfer, even poaching expertise from Chrome’s growth staff. In June, one other startup, The Browser Firm, launched its personal AI-infused browser referred to as Arc with related ambitions.

However right here’s the fact test: Chrome at the moment owns round 68% of the worldwide browser market, based on StatCounter, towering over Safari, Edge, and Firefox. That’s a tricky nut to crack, even for a well-funded AI upstart.

Talking of funding, Perplexity has been on a tear, leaping from a $3 billion to $9 billion valuation in simply six months, with whispers of a recent funding spherical concentrating on a $14 billion valuation.

Will Comet truly shake up the way in which we browse? Too early to say. However one factor’s clear: the battle to your browser is heating up, and AI is the weapon of alternative.