He Who Controls the Browser Controls Next-Gen AI: What is Perplexity's Comet Strategy?
Perplexity is a search startup aiming to challenge Google by leveraging AI. Its founder, Mr. Srinivas, originally interned at Google DeepMind before joining OpenAI, and subsequently launched Perplexity. This article, based on an interview, explains the origins of the company, product features, competitive differentiation, browser strategy, growth and fundraising, and future prospects.
1. Background of the Founding and Internship Experience
After obtaining his Ph.D. from UC Berkeley in 2019, Mr. Srinivas interned at Google DeepMind. Reflecting on that time, Mr. Srinivas says, "DeepMind was like a different company, pursuing core artificial general intelligence," and "I lived in a pod in the office and absorbed every resource." While DeepMind's research was cutting-edge, it had not reached commercialization and was eventually integrated into Google proper. He says this experience strengthened his desire to "create services that not only involve research but actually reach users' hands."
1-1. Lessons from OpenAI
After his DeepMind internship, Mr. Srinivas joined OpenAI as an early member. Here, he was exposed to the perspective of "how to implement AI in society," not just model development, and deepened his vision for the future of search engines.
2. Perplexity's Concept and Features
Perplexity bills itself as an "answering machine," aiming for users to obtain "truly reliable answers." While existing search relies on a list of links, Perplexity adopts a method that combines "conversational answers" with "reliable sources (citations)."
Perplexity rebuilt search in the form of conversation and answers, and showed reliable sources. This became the blueprint for other chatbots on the market.
2-1. Countermeasures against Hallucinations (False Answers)
Many AI chatbots are prone to generating incorrect answers known as "hallucinations," but Perplexity has built a mechanism to "avoid misinformation" by always clearly stating citations and presenting summarized answers. In the early days of the company, an investor once dismissed it, saying, "Wrong answers are actually popular, so they are a feature, not a bug," but Mr. Srinivas stuck to his company's approach.
3. Comparison with Google and Competitive Strategy
Although Google has a vast infrastructure and user base, it is trapped in a dilemma where modifying search results reduces advertising revenue. Mr. Srinivas points out, "Google is developing AI search features while changing names repeatedly, but ultimately it has not been able to significantly change the existing search experience."
What Google needs is to change all search results. However, because it cannot abandon advertising revenue, it has not truly been able to innovate the user experience.
On the other hand, Perplexity is dedicated to "creating tools that are purely useful as products," presenting optimal answers to users without being bound by links or advertisements.
4. Initiatives in the Browser Business
As its next frontier, Perplexity is attempting to redefine the "browser." Mr. Srinivas stated, "Just as Chrome's success supported Google, the browser will become the major strategy for next-generation AI companies," and is developing its own browser, "Comet." He envisions positioning the browser as a "cognitive operating system," integrating not just search and navigation, but transactions and tasks into a single interface.
The browser is the front end of the internet experience. We will rebuild this to create an environment where users can seamlessly go from answers to actions.
Through this strategy, the company is attempting to increase touchpoints with users and build a new ecosystem that breaks away from traditional search.
5. Growth and Fundraising
Perplexity handled about 3,000 queries on the first day of 2022, but as of May 2025, it is processing over 780 million queries per month. The monthly growth rate is expanding rapidly at about 20%, and it aims for a scale of "1 billion queries per week" in 2025. In terms of fundraising, its valuation has recently tripled and then tripled again, and it is considering raising $500 million at a valuation of approximately $14 billion (about 1.9 trillion yen).
"Our strong product and unique vision are being recognized, and investors see the potential for us to realize the next generation of search experiences."
In the early days of the startup, they faced typical struggles, such as paying for their own health insurance, but they say, "If you build the right product, the funding will follow."
6. Hardware Partnerships and Future Outlook
Perplexity is aiming for widespread adoption by being pre-installed on smartphones as an "AI assistant," and is currently negotiating partnerships with Motorola and Samsung. The intention is to offer users an alternative to Google Assistant by providing an experience where interactive search can be performed instantly via action buttons or gesture controls on Android devices.
"Google cannot innovate while remaining pre-installed. We will make Android more open and create a world where users can freely choose their default AI assistant."
Furthermore, they are considering revenue-sharing models with media companies, exploring mechanisms to distribute not only traffic to cited sources but also query-level advertising revenue and subscription income.
Perplexity aims to lead the market as an "AI search platform that prioritizes accuracy." While existing major search engines are bound by their profit structures, Perplexity is attempting to provide an end-to-end experience—from answer to action to transaction—while building a new relationship between citations and revenue. If their hardware partnerships and browser strategy bear fruit, they have the potential to become deeply integrated into users' daily lives as a "cognitive OS" that goes beyond a mere search tool. The speed of their growth and the implementation of new features will continue to be worth watching.
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