- Perplexity has updated its Comet Assistant AI to multitask across browser tabs
- Comet can also complete more difficult and complex missions with multiple steps.
- The AI now also asks the user for permission before acting directly in the browser.
Perplexity Comet Assistant was created to do things online on your behalf. A new update improves the AI to do so on a much larger scale, allowing the revamped assistant to work across multiple tabs and perform more complex work over longer periods of time.
Comet is the heart of Perplexity’s AI-enabled browser. AI is always present when browsing the web, completing tasks, and streamlining digital research and paperwork. The update gives Comet a longer attention span and sharper web insight. Comet also has a better sense of boundaries, and the AI now asks for permission before acting in your browser.
Comet’s ability to handle more types of actions at once is the most notable improvement. AI can multitask across tabs and apps to complete tasks, mimicking human behavior. Instead of jumping back and forth between research, data entry, and reference tabs, Comet will search for all three at once. —
And the new version of Comet Assistant is better at analyzing complex web environments. That means you can do more with less micromanagement. You can ask it to search for flight deals on multiple websites at once, for example.
Of course, giving AI more power means rethinking how it gains its trust. To that end, the team added a layer of user control that puts you directly in the driver’s seat. If Comet detects that a task could be better executed by directly clicking on links, filling out forms, or extracting data from a page, it will ask for the green light. That choice persists for the rest of the task.
comet agent
Perplexity claims there is some measurable improvement with the updated Comet. Internal testing shows a 23% improvement in successful task completion compared to the previous version. However, the real importance is how well it handles multi-step instructions. Comet is much more likely to complete long, branching tasks that require context and tracking.
This is all good news for the average user who opens a browser in the morning, gets distracted by ten unrelated tabs, and ends the day wondering what was really done. Comet now works as a background assistant that notices clutter and offers to clean it up, such as pulling data from school attendance portals to make sure you’re aware of how often your child misses class.
While competitors like Opera’s Neon and OpenAI’s Atlas AI browser are experimenting with autonomous AI helpers, Comet has taken a hands-on approach.
Of course, there are still limits. Comet still can’t run entire projects without supervision and doesn’t always understand nuances or prioritize tasks like you would. But it is getting closer to being something more reliable, within limits. But if you’re bombarded with browser chaos, Comet might have enough virtual hands to sort it all out.
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