Perplexity’s Aravind Srinivas says Comet will beat Google’s Project Mariner

Aravind Srinivas, the CEO of Perplexity AI, has boldly stated that the company’s new browser, Comet, is set to rival Google's Project Mariner. This ambitious project is currently exclusive to Google’s paying customers and integrates many functionalities typical of advanced generative AI browsers. During a recent Reddit AMA, Srinivas highlighted the limitations of Project Mariner, which operates under a hefty $250 monthly subscription. He confidently remarked, "They have something called Project Mariner – similar but quite limited compared to the capabilities of Comet." He anticipates that Google will closely monitor Comet and likely adopt features from it in the future. Srinivas also expressed gratitude towards Google for maintaining the open-source nature of Chromium, the foundation upon which Comet is built. However, he did not hold back in criticizing Google’s organizational structure, describing it as excessively bureaucratic with too many decision-makers leading to disarray. He noted, "It’s a giant bureaucratic organization right now with too many decision-makers and disjointed teams. They need to choose a definitive path to strengthen their position rather than hedging their bets." Launched earlier this month, Comet is currently accessible to paying users, with plans to gradually extend availability to free users through an invitation system. When questioned about the timeline for releasing Android and iOS versions of the browser, Srinivas remained vague regarding Android but mentioned that iPhone users could expect access within the next two to three months. Regarding free user access, he assured that Comet would eventually be available for free users, though certain features like agentic search and personal memory searches might be limited or reserved for Pro or Max users. "We haven’t made any decisions yet. We need to first understand what’s the spend per user in the initial cohort," he explained, indicating a careful approach to expanding the user base.