Hands on: An early look at Comet — and how AI browsers could change the internet

The next browser revolution — this time with an AI interface — is just around the corner. At least, that’s how OpenAI, The Browser Company, and Perplexity see it. 

These companies are all developing AI browsers designed to do an even better job of presenting information available on the web.

Perplexity’s Comet is among the earliest such browsers. And once users latch onto it, using Google’s Chrome will feel like using a Walkman. (That’s how Perplexity sees it, anyway.)

To cut through the hype, Computerworld tested an early version of Comet to understand how AI could change browsing in much the same way Netscape shift the online landscape three decades ago.

Comet, which is only available for now by invitation only, uses AI’s best attributes to cut down the manual slog of clicking through links, creating tabs, finding files, and completing web-based work. The centerpiece is a built-in assistant, where users can type in search queries or ask the browser to complete tasks. A chatbot pops up in a side panel of the browser, while the main window shows web pages.

The goal was to compare how an AI-powered web browser and a generic browser would complete the same task. I tested an early version of Comet, with Perplexity promising to  add more functionality over time.

Writing emails

First, I connected Comet to my Gmail account; that allowed the browser chatbot to list and summarize my latest emails. The chatbot was also able to auto-compose and send an email from the Gmail account and it could search through emails by broadening the context beyond just keywords. (Typical Gmail searches look for specific words.)

The AI browser saved time and effort from the conventional click-through process of composing and sending email.

Automatically create tabs

Even better was Comet’s ability to automatically create multiple tabs based on queries to the AI assistant.

Using this query, “Keith Shaw’s Today in Tech — create tabs in Comet browser for last 5 episodes” delivered as promised. It automatically created five tabs linking to Apple Podcasts of the most recent Today in Tech episodes, which is hosted by my Foundry colleague Keith Shaw.

Comet browser used AI to create five browser tabs linking to five recent episodes of Today in Tech.
Agam Shah/Foundry

The AI assistant used reasoning to determine the most recent episodes and browsed the web to find them. The automation saved time compared to the conventional browsing experience of manually determining the last five episodes and finding links via Google search.

Create a shopping cart with one click

Similarly, the query “Create a shopping cart for enchiladas for 1 person on Instacart” automated the creation of a shopping cart on Instacart. It determined that the enchilada was for one person, identified six ingredients, browsed nearby stores, and automatically created a shopping cart. (The checkout and use of coupons required a manual process.)

The AI assistant also followed up by providing directions on how to make enchiladas with the ingredients purchased on Instacart. A typical browsing experience would require knowing the ingredients and browsing through multiple stores to see whether the items were in stock. The automated experience using Comet was a real time saver.

The Comet browser AI assistant filled up an Instacart shopping cart with ingredients for enchiladas.
Agam Shah/Foundry

Automating productivity

Comet’s AI features can also summarize, edit, and suggest improvements to documents. A few weeks ago, my martial arts instructor asked me to document the belt syllabus of Nintai, an eclectic martial art with cross-training in Korean and Japanese styles. 

Creating the syllabus is proving to be a highly involved manual task and includes putting together information scattered through different files. I wanted to see whether Comet would help me automate the process.

I loaded the brown-belt syllabus from a document in Google Drive in the browser. The AI was able to summarize the text and provide suggestions to modify the document. 

Furthermore, the suggestions drew context from references to Nintai and my instructor in my browsing and email history. The AI also summarized videos about the style, which improved the document even further. 

I also asked the Comet chatbot to find documents related to Nintai in my Google Drive. Comet made an attempt, and it was fascinating to see how AI automated the entire browsing process.

The browser window showed in real-time Comet trying multiple ways to access and open files to determine the content, which would help locate files related to Nintai’s syllabus. It couldn’t open the files, but it provided a hint at how AI browsers in the future could understand documents and boost productivity.

Final thoughts

Comet isn’t perfect and retains the traditional manual browsing experience (because it’s built on Chromium). It did take me a while to get used to a AI-assisted browsing and filling up shopping carts, much like the first time I sat in a Waymo. But Comet is still in beta and will likely mature.

OpenAI has teased a possible web browser of its own (the latest speculation is it’ll be called “Aura” and arrive this summer), and is already planning an AI-powered productivity suite.

Meanwhile, The Browser Company’s Dia is available for download for Mac users on a waitlist. Dia was introduced after the company ditched its conventional Arc browser, which was known for its slick design but deemed irrelevant in the AI era.

Who knows what will happen with Apple’s Safari, given the company’s slow start on AI? A Gemini add-on isn’t available for Chrome, and Firefox, Chrome and Opera will also need AI extensions. But it seems likely that conventional browsers without AI features won’t survive what’s coming.Hands on: An early look at Comet — and how AI browsers could change the internet – ComputerworldRead More