Artificial intelligence (AI) corporations Perplexity said on the 20th (local time) that it released the Android version of its AI browser, Comet. Perplexity released Comet as a desktop version in July, and it has now built an AI browser environment for mobile as well. Competition in the AI browser market is expanding from PCs to mobile.
Perplexity explained that the newly released Comet for Android was redesigned with the small screen size of mobile in mind. With a single tap, users can summon a personal AI assistant to ask questions and issue tasks, and they can also check the assistant's workflow in real time.
Comet can also conduct research or shop on behalf of users. For example, if a user gives a voice command, "Find colorful scarves under $30 in this online store and add them to the cart," the browser can carry out the task on the user's behalf. It also summarizes the search contents of all open tabs.
Users can also block spam and pop-ups with an ad-blocking feature and add trusted sites to a whitelist.
Since first unveiling the browser in July, Perplexity offered it only to paid plan subscribers for a while, but in early last month it made it free for all users. However, it was developed only for PC operating systems (OS) such as Windows, Mac, and Linux, so it could not be used in mobile environments including smartphones.
Perplexity also plans to release an iPhone app soon.
AI corporations are racing to roll out AI browser features. OpenAI released a new browser called "Atlas," but it is still only available on macOS. Microsoft also integrated its AI tool Copilot into its Edge browser. Anthropic did not build a browser itself, but it launched a browser-based AI agent powered by its AI model "Claude."
Google, which monopolizes the global browser market, began in earnest to load Gemini into Chrome after an antitrust ruling in September found there was no need to divest "Chrome."