The news of October 3rdPerplexity announced that its AI Browser Comet is now available for free download to users worldwide. According to Perplexity, millions of users have joined the alternate list since its release in July this year。
Prior to that, the product had been offered at a high price of $200 per month (at an exchange rate of approximately RMB 1425) and was now in a free mode, with the goal of including Google as a challenge Chrome 。
However, Comet, while free of charge, is open to all users, pays users still enjoy higher benefits。
According to TechCrunch, free users have access to sidebar assistants, while all users have access to personalized news, project management, shopping and travel aids. The fee-paying user is supported by a stronger AI model and the former Max subscriber can also use the mail assistant for reply writing and inboxing。
In addition, Comet's back-office assistants are able to perform operations such as sending mail, adding the minimum ticket for concerts to the shopping cart or finding the best direct flight on a given date. This type of functionality relies on better "conectors" as a tool to integrate Perplexity with local applications and data sources。
However, Comet was exposed to security risks shortly after its release. Researchers have found that their web-page abstract function may be used by malicious websites to embed messages that are invisible to humans in their pages。
When a user requests a summary, AI executes these hidden commands with the full authorization of the user, which may disclose the account number associated mailbox address or even access sensitive data from other browsing tabs. The loophole was revealed by the competitor Bravo's research team, Perplexity has repaired the problem。