I’ve got a new default browser. My invite to Perplexity’s Comet landed today…
I’ve been a heavy Perplexity user since early 2023.
My use ramped up as it progressed from being an advanced search engine that synthesised its response and reliably cited sources with minimal hallucinations… then became more generative, augmented other models, and introduced Spaces, deep research, and the impressive Labs feature.
I’ve been through so many genAI mini hype cycle rollercoasters over the past two and half years… persistently landing back in the trough of despair. Blown away by a new capability, only for it to break when I pushed it with real things I need to do.
The fact Perplexity was built from day one with real-time internet access and tuned for accuracy and synthesis as an “answer engine” put it way ahead of most.
It’s been a stable foundation to build from.
They’ve been able to augment and leverage capabilities the other major models have developed and integrate it into their experience.
I only started paying once their deep research feature became available. It does a great job of transparently showing its plan and reasoning – and of course all the sources it’s using.
After investing a lot of time and paying for ChatGPT and Copilot at different times over the past couple of years, only to find that neither were ready for how I use it and what I expect… Perplexity Pro has grown with me.
I spend more time in it than all of the other models and search engines combined.
The promise of a fully integrated genAI agent within the browser experience feels like the new frontier.
Easy install, with single click import of my Chrome settings. Instantly operational. The Comet Assistant sidebar is in context, integrated, and works across tabs (it’s built on Chromium). It makes Chrome extensions look very clunky and suboptimal.
It’s also got context of all the training and config I’ve already invested.
The first task I gave it? I asked it for a suggestion on something simple we should do together to get started. One of its suggestions was to play a track from my Spotify. It recommended a track based on my history and cued it up for me.
Literally. It took control of the page (even in a background tab), searched for the recommended track, and had it ready to play. Spotify blocked the ability for it to hit play (even though it tried), so I had to do that heavy lifting myself.
A simple agent created in chat without any planning, integrations, or code.
The last time I was this impressed by genAI was using the Google AI Studio Stream share screen feature for real-time guidance through on-screen tasks.
Perplexity is very early to this. The others will catch up. I can’t wait to see what happens next.
This is just the start. I’ve got plenty more experiments to do over the coming days and to one degree or another I know I’ll find myself in the trough of despair about aspects… but right now I’m in awe.
