Perplexity is preparing to move deeper into the browser business, and its ambitions go beyond giving users another way to search or ask AI questions. CEO Aravind Srinivas said on the TBPN podcast that the company wants its browser, Comet, to help it understand what users do across the web so it can sell more targeted ads.
The plan matters because browsers sit close to everyday digital behavior. If users adopt Comet, Perplexity would be able to learn from activity that happens outside its own app, including browsing and spending signals that Srinivas described as more revealing than many AI prompts.
What Perplexity says it wants from Comet
Srinivas said one reason Perplexity is building a browser is that the company wants data beyond what people type into its AI product. In his view, prompts inside AI apps do not always show who a person is as a consumer because some of those prompts are purely work-related.
He explained the thinking directly: “That’s kind of one of the other reasons we wanted to build a browser, is we want to get data even outside the app to better understand you,” Srinivas said. “Because some of the prompts that people do in these AIs is purely work-related. It’s not like that’s personal.”
That distinction is central to the strategy. A user may ask Perplexity about professional tasks, research, or productivity questions, but those queries may not reveal much about what they buy, where they travel, or how they spend leisure time online.
Srinivas pointed to that wider behavior as more useful for advertising. “On the other hand, what are the things you’re buying; which hotels are you going [to]; which restaurants are you going to; what are you spending time browsing, tells us so much more about you,” he explained.
How user profiles could support ads
The business logic is straightforward: more context can produce a more detailed user profile, and a more detailed profile can support ads that are sold as more relevant. Srinivas said Perplexity plans to use that broader context to improve its understanding of users and potentially show ads in its discover feed.
“We plan to use all the context to build a better user profile and, maybe you know, through our discover feed we could show some ads there,” he said.
That makes Comet more than a product interface. It could become part of Perplexity’s advertising infrastructure, connecting AI usage with browsing activity and other online signals. The company appears to be betting that users will accept this tracking if the ads feel better matched to their interests.
The source article notes that Srinivas believes browser users will be comfortable with this kind of tracking because the resulting ads should be more relevant. That is the core tradeoff Perplexity is putting on the table: more observation in exchange for personalization.
Why the comparison with Google matters
Perplexity is not the first company to see strategic value in owning the places where people browse and search. The source article frames the move in relation to Google, which became a roughly $2 trillion market cap company with a business helped by following users around the internet.
Google also built a browser and a mobile operating system, giving it important positions in daily digital activity. Perplexity’s interest in Comet suggests a similar recognition: the browser is not just a window to the web, but a valuable source of behavioral context.
Perplexity is also moving in mobile distribution. It has signed a partnership with Motorola, announced Thursday, where its app will be pre-installed on the Razr series. Users can access it through Moto AI by typing “Ask Perplexity.”
The company is also in talks with Samsung, Bloomberg reported. Srinivas did not flat-out confirm that report on the podcast, but he did reference the Bloomberg article, published earlier this month, that discussed both partnerships.
The privacy tension around AI browsers
The source article makes clear that Google is not alone in tracking users online for advertising. Meta’s Pixels technology is embedded on websites across the internet and gathers data even on people without Facebook or Instagram accounts. Apple, despite marketing itself as a privacy protector, can track users’ locations to sell advertising in some of its apps by default.
That broader context is important because Perplexity’s plan arrives in a market where user tracking is already a major source of distrust. The source notes that this kind of behavior has led people across the political spectrum in the U.S. and in Europe to distrust big tech.
For Perplexity, the timing is especially sensitive. Google is currently in court fighting the U.S. Department of Justice, which has alleged that Google behaved in monopolistic ways to dominate search and online advertising. The DOJ wants the judge to order Google to divest Chrome.
Both OpenAI and Perplexity have said they would buy the Chrome browser business if Google were forced to sell. Given Srinivas’ comments, the reason a browser would be attractive is not hard to understand. A browser can shape access, collect context, and support an ad business built around user behavior.
What to watch next
Comet has faced setbacks, but Srinivas said it is on track to launch in May. If it does, the key question will be whether users treat AI-powered browsing as useful enough to accept the kind of data collection Perplexity has described.
The browser could help Perplexity compete more directly with Google by giving it a richer view of user intent and behavior. It could also place the company in the same debate that surrounds other major technology platforms: how much tracking is acceptable when the payoff is personalization?
For now, the company’s direction is unusually explicit. Perplexity wants Comet to extend its understanding of users beyond AI prompts and into broader online activity. That makes the browser launch not just a product milestone, but a test of how far AI companies will go to build the next advertising business.