Perplexity AI, known for its AI-powered search engine, is poised to launch its own web browser, "Comet," potentially in May 2025. This move signals a direct challenge to established browsers like Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge, aiming to redefine the search and exploration experience.

Perplexity AI's core offering differentiates itself from traditional search engines by providing direct, concise answers to queries, complete with citations to the sources used. This approach saves users time and effort by eliminating the need to sift through multiple links to find the desired information. Comet is expected to integrate this AI-powered search functionality directly into the browsing experience.

Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity AI, envisions Comet facilitating multi-step research and longer browsing sessions driven by autonomous AI agents. The browser is reportedly built on Chromium, an open-source project by Google. Comet is designed to integrate with Google services and access browsing history to provide contextually relevant responses.

One of the key aspects of Comet is its potential for personalized experiences. Srinivas has suggested that the browser could track user behavior beyond the Perplexity app to offer premium ads tailored to user preferences. This data would include browsing habits like purchases, hotel visits, and restaurant preferences, providing deeper insights compared to typical AI prompts.

However, this approach to data collection also raises privacy concerns. Perplexity AI is attempting to address these concerns by including privacy settings such as native ad-blocking and an opt-out option for data sharing. The company emphasizes its commitment to data privacy, SOC2 certification, and user management, ensuring the protection of sensitive information.

Comet's AI infrastructure combines on-device processing with cloud-based APIs. Lightweight neural networks handle basic tasks like text summarization and intent recognition directly in the browser, leveraging WebAssembly (WASM) and WebGPU acceleration for real-time performance. Complex queries requiring up-to-date information are routed through Perplexity's API endpoints. Comet employs predictive loading to anticipate resource needs, prefetching linked pages and dynamically allocating resources.

Perplexity AI has been rapidly growing and attracting significant investment. The company is reportedly in advanced talks to raise $500 million at a valuation of $14 billion. This potential leap in value comes as Apple considers adding Perplexity AI's search features to Safari.

Perplexity AI also faces increasing competition in the AI search space. OpenAI added a search engine to ChatGPT, and Google introduced AI Overviews. Despite the competition, Perplexity AI has several advantages, including providing direct answers with citations, offering flexibility in choosing different language models, and having a higher daily query limit compared to some other AI chatbots.

Perplexity AI has also been proactive in expanding its reach through partnerships. The company announced that its answer engine and assistant will be pre-installed on new Motorola smartphones worldwide.

As Perplexity AI prepares to launch Comet, the company is aiming to provide a new search and exploration experience that leverages the power of AI while addressing user privacy concerns. The success of Comet will depend on its ability to balance personalization with privacy and offer a compelling alternative to established browsers.