The Internet is Better on Comet

Today we are releasing the Comet browser to the world, for free.

We first launched Comet to limited release on July 9.  Ever since, millions of people have joined the waitlist to receive Comet, faster than we’ve been able to release it. It has become the most sought-after AI product of the year, no matter how fast we release invites. 

Meanwhile, users with Comet access are working with it in powerful ways we never expected, and the results are clear: people love Comet. 

We want everyone to have the choice to use Comet. Beginning today, you can now download it for free, at perplexity.ai/comet. 

Everything great begins with a question

We’ve always believed that curious people lead the world. That conviction guided everything we’ve built—and today, we’re excited to share a series of announcements that build on each other to create a radically better internet.

In the 1950s, there were as many telephone engineers as there are computer science engineers today.  But only three of them invented the transistor and gave birth to computing. They were curious. They dared to ask, “Can we make a vacuum tube that never breaks and stays cool?” The Wright brothers were not inventors or engineers, they were relentlessly curious. They never stopped asking how to fly. With curiosity, they flew.  

It’s always been this way. In your work, your community, your relationships–every great vision begins with questions. 

The internet is broken. 

Today, the internet has stifled our curiosity. Knowledge work taught us to have answers, not questions. The clicks and traffic model of the web has done nothing but convert it into a digital yellow pages, where every path leads to a checkout button. Wherever you are on the internet today, you’re in somebody’s purchase funnel.  

People want a better internet. Comet is proof.

We’ve learned a lot since first making Comet available to furiously releasing it to the waitlist. When Perplexity users first downloaded Comet, the number of questions they asked increased by 6-18X in the first day. Curiosity is in all of us.

Suddenly, asking new questions is easier, the delightful default-mode of internet use. We learned: the internet is better on Comet.

Your AI, not the AI

The second thing we learned is people love the Comet Assistant. The Comet Assistant browses the internet with you, there for any questions or tasks you think of along the way. It helps you with everything: research, meetings, code, e-commerce, and more. You can stay in your flow and get real answers, helpful actions, fewer distractions.  

In the earliest days of the “Comet Summer,” it was clear the Comet Assistant should be able to do new tasks in any new tab. We shipped at Perplexity velocity.  Every new tab has a new Comet Assistant there to answer any question or take any action on your behalf. All you have to do is ask.

Then, we had a new question: is a chat bot the right paradigm for the world’s most powerful personal AI assistant? 

Chat bots are outdated

Last week we announced a powerful AI assistant that breaks the chat bot mold: Email Assistant. Email Assistant is currently available to Max Subscribers. Working with it is simple: just cc your email assistant on any thread to complete scheduling and other tasks, have draft replies ready for you when you open your inbox, and email the assistant with anything you need from your inbox.  

And we are just warming up. Today, Perplexity is announcing Background Assistants. 

Background Assistants work for you simultaneously and asynchronously, so you can focus on what matters.  In the background, your personal team of AI assistants eliminates any task on your to-do list. Background Assistants are a platform where your curiosity becomes productivity.

Whether your assistants work in your browser, your inbox, or the background, you need to manage them from wherever you are. That’s why we recently announced the first previews of Comet for mobile. 

Curiosity is everywhere

So far, Comet has been desktop-only. A mobile app is easy to build, while a mobile AI assistant and powerful curiosity accelerator takes careful thought.  Soon, the Comet mobile app will be available on any device, with a personal AI designed for your phone.

Comet strips away the clutter and frustration of mobile ads and outdated app models. And, with industry-leading voice technology, your interface with Comet assistants is easier than ever.

A better internet needs better content

Of course, technology alone can’t make the internet better—the quality of what’s online matters even more. Instead of just feeding the content machine, we’re championing real journalism. That’s why we built Comet Plus.

Today we announced our inaugural participating publishers in Comet Plus. They include some of the world’s most reputable sources of news and information. You can read a detailed list of the Comet Plus publishers and more details here.

Our mission, from day one, has been to support the world’s curiosity. We do it by building AI products that are truly useful, so you can ask more of the world.