Perplexity CEO says ‘AI browser is the next killer app’: Why Aravind Srinivas believes Comet can challenge Google

Aravind Srinivas

, CEO of

Perplexity AI

, believes the future of artificial intelligence isn’t just in bots or search engines but in something most people use every day — the web browser. In a recent appearance on The Verge’s Decoder podcast, Srinivas unveiled the company’s latest innovation, Comet, an

AI-powered browser

designed to transform how people search, navigate, and consume information online. Unlike traditional browsers or standalone chatbots,

Comet

combines natural language processing, contextual awareness, and transparent citation systems to offer answers with depth and clarity. Srinivas says this makes Comet the ideal platform for AI to truly shine, offering not just results, but understanding.

Why Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas chose a browser over a bot

While AI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini have become popular for answering questions, Aravind Srinivas believes that their value is limited when divorced from the real-world web. He argues that the true potential of AI lies in how it helps users explore, learn, and verify information across the internet, something a standalone chatbot struggles to do effectively. That’s why Perplexity built Comet: to bring the intelligence of AI directly into the browser, where it can function as a dynamic copilot for users' daily digital tasks.Comet goes beyond traditional search. Instead of delivering a page of blue links, it offers a direct answer alongside cited sources that are instantly explorable. The interface is designed to support natural language refinement and follow-up questions, letting users stay in a fluid research loop rather than starting over with each query.

Unlike Google’s “Search Generative Experience,” which Srinivas criticizes for prioritizing ad revenue and hiding citations, Comet is engineered for transparency and utility. It’s meant for curious users, students, professionals, researchers, who want quick, reliable answers backed by real content, not summarized hallucinations.According to Srinivas, “AI chat is only part of the solution. The browser is where the real intelligence should live.”

Hiring talent, thinking long term, and challenging Google

Perplexity’s ambition isn’t just technical; it’s existential. The company is positioning itself as a serious challenger to Google, aiming to reinvent how billions of people interact with the web. To do that, it has been rapidly scaling its team by hiring top engineers and researchers, many of whom have previously worked at OpenAI, Google, Meta, and DeepMind. This influx of talent signals Perplexity’s growing influence in the competitive AI landscape and its intent to lead, not follow, in the development of user-facing AI tools.Srinivas is quick to draw a line between Perplexity’s user-first philosophy and Google’s ad-first ecosystem. He claims that most traditional search engines are built around monetization strategies, not user needs. Comet, on the other hand, prioritizes clarity, speed, and trust. It shows its sources, explains its reasoning, and adapts as users dig deeper.There’s also a business case. Perplexity is already generating significant user engagement, and while the company hasn’t gone public yet, an IPO is on the table. Srinivas knows the road ahead is steep, especially going up against a trillion-dollar company like Google, but he's confident that Comet’s AI-native experience gives it an edge.“We’re not trying to build a faster browser,” he says. “We’re trying to change how people think and explore. That’s the real promise of AI, and it belongs in the browser.”