(Disclaimer: comet link below is an affiliate link, but you still get one month of Perplexity Pro for free if you follow it. The fact I get a few bucks is just another plus :-))
Introduction
Comet is an AI browser that has been recently released by Perplexity. It is a Chromium based browser with agentic capabilities which means it can do actions on your behalf like filling a shopping list, sending emails and so forth.
Agentic Browser vs LLM Tools
The first thing that comes to mind when we discuss an agentic AI browser is what is the big deal? What is the difference between using chatgpt for example with a prompt vs using the same prompt in a browser? How will the experience or result will differ? Especially considering the fact that in recent releases ChatGPT and others can do web searches and provide up to date information.
Another Browser
In addition, since it’s chromium based, feature wise we shouldn’t expect it to be any better than Chrome or other chromium based browsers such as Brave. Yes, since it’s based on Chromium you can use your bookmarks, settings and plugins you currently use which is a huge plus, but feature wise we can’t expect it to better as a pure browser. It makes sense since the main value proposition of Comet are the AI capabilities. However, there are some use cases for Which Comet shines:
AI Browser Benefits
Key Points (TL;DR)
- Product Comparison
- Summarize Youtube Video
- Unsubscribe
And now in more detail:
Product Recommendation, Comparison and Add Items to Shopping Cart
Well, I must say that I was a skeptic myself as well but frankly, the penny dropped when I’ve asked perplexity to fill my grocery list on my super market’s website and go to the checkout page. This is something that a desktop installed chatbot definitely can’t do. Or to recommend an espresso machine with a crafted comparison page and if needed – show you the actual product page for purchase. Check this out (video starts at the relevant point in time):
Summarize a Youtube Video
One of the best use cases. Works well. Great for long videos or when you find it hard to understand the host’s accent (sorry my Indian friends, but sometimes your accent can be rather thick):
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-7385598867511259136-K0K9
Automatic Unsubscribe
Oh boy, this is my favorite. If you are like me sick and tired of getting promotional emails and manually unsubscribing from each, this one is for you: Comet can automatically unsubscribe from promotional emails. Works best for gmail as it has tight integration but might work for other providers as well (video starts at the relevant point in time):
Caveats
New Technology
As with any new tech there are growth pains. This stems from Comet being a new product and every new software product has its growth pains: bugs, unpolished features, product-market fit issues and so forth. Additional complexity is added due to the fact that AI agents are a new product category. This in turn implies broader market fit gaps and an uncharted terrain in terms of pricing, usage, features and so forth. So this is something we should bear in mind when we evaluate comet.
Security Concerns
There are real and serious security concerns with Comet right now. The reason for this is that Comet’s AI assistant can’t distinguish legitimate and genuine webpage HTML from malicious instructions that might exist as part of it. Basically, an attacker can instruct the LLM to go to the user’s bank website, log in (as browser session has been previously established or by using stored credentials) and do operations on behalf of the user. This is a real concern that should be taken into account so caution should be used when trying Comet. More on this can be found in this research By Brave.
Conclusion
Agentic browsers (or AI browsers) are a new product category that is rapidly involving. Since this post was written another rival joined the frenzy: Atlas by Openai and we can expect more to come. As with any new product category and every new software product – growth pains can be expected. However, the main concern regarding Agentic browsers is currently security as depicted above. Having said that I still think it’s worth to give it a spin for some use cases on trusted sites (like your email provider or youtube) for which it can make your life easier.
I don’t yet consider it production-reay for mission-critical workflows, but for exploratory tasks it’s compelling.In summary: try it on trusted sites, don’t give it unsupervised control of critical accounts yet, monitor its behaviour. If you do, you’ll find some productivity gains. Use the link below to get a free month of Perplexity PRO with comet.