Perplexity Comet browser effect: Did Google just become the 'new Microsoft' for Chrome

Google Chrome really did a number on Microsoft, especially in terms of the web browser war. Chrome ate Microsoft Internet Explorer for breakfast, and even after Microsoft switched gears with Edge – and the entire Copilot AI and Chromium-based approach, Chrome ate it for dinner by keeping users tied to it across all the platforms.

Now, Chrome has an emerging challenger in– both in the browser war and the AI space – Comet by Perplexity. So much so, Google is already promoting Chrome on the Comet browser whenever users open Google on the Comet web browser. This feels familiar. It reminds me of Microsoft's efforts with Edge, attempting to draw users away from Chrome – a move many considered desperate at the time.

Although Comet is being rolled out in the limited beta testing phase, it is already winning over people by offering a new way to browse with its Agentic AI integration within the browser. People who are going gaga about how Comet is making tasks easier by offering automations, tasks and even a deep AI integration that can interact with your calendar, emails and even websites and do things on your behalf.

But, there’s more to the story. Comet is also Perplexity – in an extended form, and this is where the big problem for Google — it is actually changing the way people ‘walk the web’.