AI company Perplexity revealed in February that it was developing its own browser named Comet. In a recent episode of the TBPN podcast, CEO Aravind Srinivas shared insights on the company’s shift beyond its artificial intelligence roots: the goal is to gather user data and provide targeted advertisements.
“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,” he articulated. “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.”
If this sounds familiar, it’s because Google’s Chrome browser has adopted a similar strategy. Notably, Comet is based on Chromium, Google’s open-source browser framework. This doesn’t preclude Perplexity from the possibility of acquiring Chrome following Google’s recent rulings concerning online search. During ongoing hearings about Google’s practices, Chief Business Officer Dmitry Shevelenko expressed confidence that Perplexity could effectively manage the browser at its current scale. Unsurprisingly, he remained skeptical about OpenAI attempting to claim ownership of the property.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/perplexity-is-building-a-browser-in-part-to-collect-customer-data-for-targeted-ads-230132091.html?src=rss
