We analyze Perplexity’s Comet, the browser with AI integrated (really) with the web
What is Perplexity Comet and what is it for?
I recently received an invitation to try Perplexity Comet. Actually, I have already told you about this web browser in the past. The thing is, until now, I haven’t had the opportunity to use it. This browser wants to go one step further in the application of AI in web browsing. I already told you that he achieves it, but only halfway.
Let’s go in parts. The first thing you should know is that Comet is a conventional browser. In fact, from my point of view, too conventional. As with Brave or Vivaldi, ideal browsers to abandon Chrome, It is based on Chromium. What they have done in Perplexity is to make up the interface a little and add the entire AI part. Of course, the default search engine is Perplexity AI itself, but everything else is identical to Chrome.
And what is it for? It’s pretty obvious: to surf the Internet. The trick is the integration of AI with the websites you are visiting. The Comet assistant is capable of interacting with the interface of any website. It doesn’t matter what elements are on the screen. The browser’s AI is capable of “understanding” them and applying the actions that the user has requested.
This It is a project that is in a very early stage. developmental. That’s probably why Perplexity hasn’t added any exclusive features to its browser yet. They have simply focused on AI. For now, it feels like a slightly modified Chrome with an assistant that actually “looks” at what you’re doing and acts on your requests.
Getting started with Perplexity Comet
After installing Comet by Perplexity on macOS, the first thing I see is this window:
After an animation, a slider button appears to start using the browser. Please note that by sliding it is understood that I am accepting the terms and conditions.
Like the rest of the browsers, it has an import system that allows you to bring everything we have in other browsers. Simply select the profile and press Matter.
The next step allows me to customize the browser a little. Actually, all I’m doing here is changing the browser profile picture and giving it a name. It is something that is almost never done in Chrome because the usual thing is to connect the Google account. But here it’s all a bit more manual.
After these simple steps, the browser is ready to go.
As you can see, the really interesting thing about this browser is its AI-based assistant. How has it worked for me? The truth is that the tests have been very satisfactory. In general, has done exactly what was asked of himeven in requests that involve several steps.
What is the problem? Which is painfully slow for most tasks. If what you intend is to use it as a substitute for your conventional navigation, then this assistant is going to exasperate you. However, there is something in which it shines brightly: its agentic mode. But first I’ll tell you about some simple use cases.
Actions within Gmail
The first thing that occurred to me is to ask Comet’s assistant file an email that I had in my Gmail inbox. As you can see, it is an easy task.
And he did it the first time, although it took a few seconds (more than if I had done it, for sure). I have to admit that it is impressive to see how the AI scans the web, detects the interface elements and determines which ones to press. It is as if someone were controlling the equipment from a distance, only in this case what is behind it is a model making decisions on its own.
In addition to this, I also asked him to compose an email, but not send it. He did so, although he forgot to enter the recipient.
I even asked him to find me a specific setting within Gmail settings.
In this last case, it was half right. It took me to the correct section, but it went too far with the scroll. Still, I consider that the result was positive.
Exploring Booking in search of a hotel
Searching for hotels on Booking can be quite cumbersome. Well, I can tell you that with Comet it is even more so. Obviously, we must always think that this technology is only taking its first steps. Let us always remember that, even though it is not useful now, it is very likely that it will be useful in the near future.
After accessing the Booking website, I asked Comet for the following:
- Search for hotels in Andorra for 2 people and two children, 2 years old each. For the December long weekend, in the La Massana area.
The blue aura covered the Booking portal and the AI got to work.
For the moment, his mistake was overlooked by the assistant who continued choosing the dates.
Here’s a detail: He understood that the December long weekend is from the 5th to the 8th. This is quite interesting because the holiday actually falls on a Saturday, but it was understood that, because of this, many will move the holiday to the day before, which is Friday. By the way, by now the AI had already realized that it was searching in the wrong city.
Finally, he assigned the guests following my instructions to the letter. He even got the age of the children right.
After pressing on your own Look forI already had before me a list of the hotels available for those dates. In addition, as a language model, it also offers a text list with the prices and ratings of each accommodation. This whole process took him at least 1 or 2 minutes.
To determine the control that the AI has over the websites and the browser itself, after the search, I asked it to open the first five results in new tabs.
This action was very quick, everything must be said.
Looking for furniture at IKEA
The last example I give you from my tests with Comet consists of search for “lifting desks” on the IKEA website. After sending the promptin about 10 or 20 seconds the task had been solved.
At IKEA there are two types of lifting desks: those with an electric motor and those without. Well, I thought it appropriate to ask the Comet assistant to determine which ones belonged to the first group and to open each one in a new tab.
It worked the first time. I was going through all the tabs and none of the ones I had chosen were manual. An interesting detail is that on the results page It is not mentioned what type of lifting desk each one is.. So I understand that what the AI did was open each link and consult the product sheet.
Where Comet is really powerful: agentic mode
This is where everything makes sense. The examples I have given you so far were aimed at checking how Comet interacts with websites. However, you should know that it is also capable of interact with your web applicationsas long as you are logged in.
This is the most authentic aspect of Comet and from which users are getting the most out of it. Imagine that you are browsing the Geeknetic home page. So, you ask Comet the following:
- Create a Google Spreadsheet that includes the headlines for each of the news stories on this website. All must be dated equal to or after September 15. You must include all of them up to that date. In the right column, include a brief description where it is clear what the news was about.
This is that typical task that would take a long time to complete. Once we send Comet the request, it gets to work.
In the background, it is responsible for opening Spreadsheets, creating a new file and starting to work on it. In fact, in the chain of reasoning it is possible to click on the new spreadsheet. This allows you to see how Comet is working.
The thing is that The execution of the task in this case took just one minute.which is much less than what it would have taken me. As you can see, for this type of use, Comet’s AI is really powerful. It can be used for countless things, such as sending messages via WhatsApp Web based on information from a website, extracting data in bulk, connecting several services at the same time… There is no limit.
Voice mode is not so connected
Before finishing, I want to make a brief mention of the voice mode that Comet includes. In this case, the problem is not the speed, since it is quite fast in answering. Rather, the fault is that This mode is not connected to the web. At least, not at the same level.
In addition, it is quite choppy and It is difficult to maintain a fluid conversation with him. It is a far cry from the experience we find in ChatGPT or Gemini Live. Again, it’s a matter of Perplexity dedicating efforts and resources to continue improving these details.
Perplexity’s Comet is the prelude: soon we will delegate a lot to AI, but not everything
After testing it in several scenarios, my conclusion about Perplexity’s Comet: not practical for day-to-day tasks. Its main problem is that it is very slow. So, for most cases, it’s best to navigate the conventional way. That is, it doesn’t make much sense to use it to search for a hotel or products in an online store.
Now, That doesn’t mean this is a useless product.. It is in the agentic mode where it really shines. For example, there are those who take advantage of it to create collections on Shopify en masse.
Likewise, some users comment that they have used it to create Google spreadsheets from text prompts or to complete very long questionnaires. I’ve seen use cases that leverage AI to automate workflows between different services (e.g. Notion + Slack + Sheets).
When faced with heavy and repetitive tasks, Comet is a gem. The fact that it works with every web service you can imagine makes it an amazing automation and productivity solution. That’s where this proposal shines. The only downside is the issue of privacy (your personal data is processed), but that is another matter.
