Perplexity CEO says his AI browser could replace recruiters, admin assistants in companies

Aravind Srinivas, CEO of the fast-rising Nvidia-backed startup Perplexity, has declared that his company's new AI-native browser, Comet, is poised to automate key functions of two roles critical to every modern workplace: recruiters and administrative assistants.

In a recent episode of The Verge's "Decoder" podcast, Srinivas detailed how Comet is engineered to go beyond simple web browsing, aiming to fully automate significant aspects of knowledge work. "A recruiter's work worth one week is just one prompt: sourcing and reach outs," he said.

He elaborated on Comet's capabilities, explaining how its built-in AI agent can seamlessly integrate with applications like Gmail, LinkedIn, and Google Calendar. This integration allows Comet to generate candidate lists, extract contact information, and dispatch personalized outreach emails – tasks traditionally handled by recruiting coordinators and sourcers, effectively streamlining the entire process.

Srinivas also believes Comet is set to absorb many of an executive assistant's daily responsibilities. These include email triage, comprehensive calendar management, and meeting preparation. "You want it to keep following up, keep a track of their responses," Business Insider quoted him as saying. The Perplexity CEO said the AI tool can "update the Google Sheets, mark the status as responded or in progress, and follow up with those candidates, sync with my Google calendar, and then resolve conflicts and schedule a chat, and then push me a brief ahead of the meeting."