New Delhi, July 11 -- Artificial intelligence (AI) company Perplexity has launched what it claims is the world's first "AI browser", setting the stage for a new competitive battleground that could fundamentally reshape how users interact with the web. The company's Comet browser, currently available to subscribers of its $200-per-month Perplexity Max plan on Windows and Mac devices, represents what chief executive Aravind Srinivas describes as a platform "designed to be a thought partner and assistant". The launch comes as industry speculation mounts that OpenAI may be preparing its own AI browser launch within weeks, potentially escalating competition in a market that has been dominated by Google's Chrome, Microsoft's Edge, and Apple's Safari for years. Unlike conventional browsers enhanced with AI add-ons, Comet integrates AI capabilities directly into core browsing functions. The browser uses Perplexity's proprietary search engine and large language model, accessible through a sidebar that can answer questions about any webpage content. HT has not used the Comet browser yet, and therefore it is difficult to judge the balance of potential versus promise. But early users indicate the software has potential. "The most interesting thing about Perplexity Comet is that it can actually do things in Cal and Gmail. Example, I asked it to reschedule a 1:1 - it moved the invite and sent an email. Neither Google nor OpenAI have done this in their agents.maybe for safety reasons, but it's limiting," said Olivia Moore, a partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. The functionality represents a significant departure from passive browsing tools towards what industry experts term as "agentic AI" - systems capable of autonomous task execution. Dharmesh Shah, co-founder and chief technology officer of software company HubSpot, highlighted the practical implications: "Like millions of others, I spend hours and hours a day in a browser. Specifically, Chrome. And, Chrome hasn't fundamentally changed much at all in years. Comet changes that. It's like having an AI assistant that's right there." The AI browser space is rapidly attracting multiple players with varying approaches. The Browser Company's Dia, currently in limited early access for Apple macOS users, utilises OpenAI's GPT-4 models to automate shopping tasks. Opera is developing Neon, another agentic-focused browser expected to launch in coming months with capabilities including autonomous web platform interaction and workflow automation. OpenAI's potential entry into the market could leverage its ChatGPT integration and Operator web browsing AI agent, though details remain scarce. "I like the integration of agentic actions right inside the browser that I'm using versus having to fire off an OpenAI Operator request," said Ryan Carson, an entrepreneur currently developing AI solutions at Intel. AI browsers distinguish themselves through integration of multimodal models capable of contextualising different media formats, computer vision for web analysis, and task automation features. These capabilities could enable automatic form completion, price comparison across multiple websites, appointment scheduling, and autonomous research across various sources. Srinivas outlined Perplexity's broader vision: "Automated Tasks on Perplexity that can be set with simple natural language is quite underrated. We will be bringing this feature on Comet. So, your browser will turn into a mini-OS with smart cron jobs that run your life while removing cognitive burden. The Cognitive OS." The reference to cron jobs is to time-based task schedulers in certain operating systems. Google, facing potential disruption to its dominant browser market position, has been integrating its Gemini AI more prominently across its ecosystem. The recent rollout of AI mode in Search to India exemplifies efforts to retain users within Google's platform, including Chrome. However, the strategy's effectiveness depends on preventing user migration to alternative browsers offering more compelling AI integration. The emergence of AI browsers signals a fundamental shift in web interaction paradigms, moving beyond information consumption towards active task delegation and automation. The race for such evolution, though, will bring questions about data privacy, security, and the potential of such browsers and their underlying models to become new gatekeepers controlling information access. The development represents what analysts view as the first major signal of a broader transformation in how users will interact with online information and services, with implications extending far beyond browser choice to encompass the entire digital ecosystem....