The experience gives a taste of the web navigation of tomorrow. But not enough to win today, the fault of many youthful errors.
Is use an AI doped browser relevant on a daily basis? For thirty days, we tested the new web browser from the Perplexity start-up. When classic browsers (Chrome, Firefox, etc.) are content to display pages and require manual navigation between tabs and applications, Comet acts as an intelligent assistant capable of understanding, analyzing and acting on web content. The experience is generally very positive even if Comet still suffers from some youthful errors.
Perplexity and his assistant in the heart of the navigator
Comet is still in preversion, it is gradually deployed to all free or paid users (by invitation). On the other hand, subscribers to the Max offer (200 monthly dollars) can already download it without waiting.
The browser has been developed on the basis of chromium, the Fork Open Source from Google Chrome. The migration between Google Chrome and Comet is therefore simple. Likewise, on a daily basis, a user who is already used to chrome will not be lost. Perplexity adds “only” its AI layer with native features based on an assistant present in a right column in the browser, it is the heart of the browser. Web search, question on a given page, agent navigation … All AI requests are entered in this window.
Finally, Comet uses, not surprisingly, Perplexity as a default search engine. On a daily basis, use is fairly fluid for the vast majority of requests. The search engine is not content to return a text generated by AI but it also displays links to the most relevant sites, such as a classic Search page. The only problem remains the latency between sending the request and the display of the first responses. It can sometimes happen one by two seconds. A fairly substantial delay in the long run.
Automate your navigation
Help with an online spreadsheet
The Comet assistant can take control of the user consultation page or open a new page in background and navigate in semi-autonomy. The Comet assistant can, for example, be used to automate tasks in an online spreadsheet.
Fill out and submit a form
Another use case, Comet AI can be useful to quickly fill in forms for you. The web search assistant, browsing the pages and completes the information in a fairly fluid way. Example: Perplexity can reserve a table for you in a restaurant.
Automatically post content on social networks
For the creation of content, Comet can, there too, help you on the waking part but also on the generation of content. He can carry out all the stages in semi-autonomy until the final publication.
The agent still requires human feedback for requests with many steps. Finally, before posting the generated text, AI requires final validation.
Create an event from an email in your agenda
It is a very practical option. Thanks to its native connection with many connectors (including the Google suite), the Comet assistant can, from a selected text or an open tab, create an appointment in your agenda. A use case that really releases time to the human user.
Example: The Comet assistant can be asked to add an event from an email received.
The main limits of Comet
Despite its promises, Comet still presents several pitfalls which could slow its adoption. The first challenge remains the user appropriation. Without regular use of the AI assistant and its agent features, Comet comes down to a chromium browser with integrated perplexity. The interest then becomes marginal in front of Chrome or Edge, especially since taking charge of these new features requires a significant adaptation time.
Second, Comet’s agent navigation is struggling to keep its promises of productivity. In comparison with the chatgpt agent mode, more mature and responsive, Comet automation still lacks fluidity. Concretely, it is often faster to perform the tasks manually than to wait for execution by AI. A paradox when the stated objective is precisely to save time. Less problematic but still handicapping, Comet suffers from serious performance problems despite its chromium base. The browser can swallow up to 4 GB of RAM while displaying important slowness for use. A youth problem that deserves rapid corrections.
A good agent browser experience
Comet offers a first successful experience of agent navigation and allows you to familiarize yourself with what the navigators of tomorrow will probably be. Perplexity’s approach is intelligent: rather than reinventing the wheel, the start-up agrees in a single interface of the functionality already available but dispersed on the web (IA research, automation, integrations with third-party services …). This centralization constitutes the true asset of Comet in the face of existing solutions.
But Comet is still perfectible, especially on the system performance and the reliability of its agents. The challenge for Perplexity will be to accelerate the pace of development because competition is fast approaching. Google could quickly integrate similar features in Chrome thanks to Gemini, while Openai would work on its own browser, according to several sources.
