India, April 25 -- When Perplexity AI announced plans for its own browser, Comet, back in February, it seemed like a curious departure from its core identity as an AI-powered assistant. But now, thanks to a revealing podcast appearance by CEO Aravind Srinivas, the strategic intent is coming into focus - and it has everything to do with data.

Speaking on the TBPN podcast, Srinivas was candid: "That's kind of one of the other reasons we wanted to build a browser, is we want to get data even outside the app to better understand you. We plan to use all the context to build a better user profile and, maybe you know, through our discover feed we could show some ads there."

It's a bold, and some might say, familiar playbook. Google has spent y...