Perplexity AI today launched a closed beta of Comet, its agentic browser for macOS on Apple Silicon. Integrating Perplexity’s AI search and local context-aware intelligence, Comet personalizes browsing by storing history and tabs locally, provides an always-on search and summarization panel, offers Comet Assistant commands for tab and email management, and ships with built-in ad and tracker blocking. Selected testers can import Chrome data, invoke AI queries via the “Ask” button, and experience daily feature updates—paving the way for broader enterprise and consumer rollout.
Agentic Browsing & Privacy by Design
Comet embodies agentic AI by allowing users to delegate repetitive tasks:
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Local Context Storage: Browsing history and open tabs remain on-device, preventing data from being used for model training and ensuring GDPR-style compliance.
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Comet Assistant: Users issue natural-language commands— “Close duplicate tabs,” “Group tabs by topic,” or “Find unanswered emails in my inbox”—and Comet executes them autonomously.
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Ad & Tracker Blocking: Enabled out-of-the-box, with an option to disable during setup, enhancing page performance and privacy.
Integrated AI Search & Summarization
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Perplexity Side Panel: Accessible via a persistent pane, it integrates Perplexity’s core LLM-driven summarization and Q&A directly into the browser, avoiding context switching between tabs.
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Multi-Tab Queries: Comet personalizes responses based on all open tabs, using local context to refine AI outputs—e.g., summarizing multiple research articles at once.
Productivity & Workflow Automation
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Data Import: Beta users can import Chrome settings—bookmarks, passwords, extensions—streamlining migration from incumbent browsers.
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Email Analysis: Comet can review Gmail inboxes to surface unread or unanswered messages, draft replies, or summarize threads, potentially saving hours per week.
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Shopping Cart Checks: Assistant commands can monitor e-commerce carts for price changes or discount codes.
Release Cadence & Platform Scope
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Closed Beta: Limited to Apple Silicon macOS users; expansion criteria and Windows support pending.
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Frequent Updates: Perplexity ships daily improvements, driven by user feedback on bugs and feature requests.
Comet represents Perplexity’s strategic move to embed agentic AI into core productivity workflows, challenging legacy browsers and RPA tools. For enterprise and AI leaders, recommended next steps are:
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Participate in Beta: Secure invites for Apple Silicon test seats to evaluate Comet’s agentic features.
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Assess Privacy Controls: Review local data storage and ad-block policies against corporate compliance standards.
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Map Workflows: Identify browser-centric tasks (e.g., research summarization, email triage) for pilot automation.
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Monitor Roadmap: Track expansion to Windows and enterprise deployment options, including potential command-line or API integrations.
By exploring Comet now, organizations can shape its evolution, influence feature prioritization, and prepare to integrate an agentic browser that promises to streamline browsing, summarization, and task automation under a unified, AI-powered interface.
