ai startup company perplexity announced today that it has made its intelligent browser "comet" available for free download worldwide. comet, which used to cost $200 per month (about 1,425 rmb), has officially transitioned to a free model after a three-month waiting period, aiming to challenge the market share of mainstream browsers such as google chrome.
despite starting as a free version, comet maintains a phased service strategy. free users can use basic features such as the ai assistant in the sidebar and personalized news and travel plans. the paid version offers more powerful ai models and advanced features like automatic email responses and inbox management. the backend ai assistant can even perform complex operations such as automatically comparing concert tickets and selecting the optimal flight options. these features are powered by perplexity's data integration tool "connector".
notably, comet was exposed to a security vulnerability shortly after its july release. the research team of the brave browser discovered that comet's web page summary function could be exploited, allowing malicious websites to steal sensitive information such as users' email addresses through hidden commands. perplexity has already addressed this issue urgently, but the incident has sparked discussions about the security of ai browsers. the strategic shift from expensive subscription services to completely free services demonstrates perplexity's ambition to build an ai ecosystem through expanding its user base.
