Perplexity Comet isn't the first AI-powered web browser to arrive. That honor goes to Dia, but thanks to the popularity of Perplexity as an AI-enabled search engine and chatbot, it's getting a lot of attention. It deserves it.

Perplexity’s AI-powered Comet browser is part of a rising trend toward AI browsers, but whether it’s the future or just a pricey experiment remains to be seen.

OpenAI is planning to launch an AI web browser in the “coming weeks,” according to a report from Reuters. Sources tell the outlet that OpenAI could build its Operator AI agent into the browser, allowing it to book reservations, fill out forms, and complete other tasks on a user’s behalf as it moves toward an “agentic” future.

Yesterday, Perplexity, the fast-growing AI platform, soft-launched Comet, a new web browser meant to compete with Google Chrome and Safari.

A test of the app Dia illustrates that the humble web browser may be the path to making artificial intelligence more natural to use.

Firefox’s sidebar is one of many experimental methods that browser makers are using to find a new format for the AI era.