In a significant move to expand its artificial intelligence ecosystem, Perplexity AI has officially begun distributing early access invites for its Comet browser on Android devices. The San Francisco-based startup continues its strategic expansion after previously rolling out invitations for Windows and Mac users earlier this year, eventually making the browser generally available on those platforms.
Android Rollout Strategy and User Priority
Perplexity founder Aravind Srinivas personally announced the development, confirming that Comet browser for Android invites are now being sent to a select group of early testers. Interested users can register their interest through either the Google Play Store or directly via the Comet browser website.
The company has established a clear priority system for invite distribution, with paying subscribers and frequent users of the AI-powered search engine receiving preferential access. Srinivas emphasized this point in his social media announcement, stating: "Comet Android early invites are going out. If you want to maximize your chances for early access and shaping how the future of mobile browsing looks like - it all comes down to your Perplexity Android usage and Pro/Max user status! More invites will go out soon."
Challenging Chrome's Mobile Dominance
Perplexity's Android browser launch represents a direct challenge to Google Chrome's overwhelming market dominance. Current data from SimilarWeb reveals Chrome commands an impressive 60.45% share of the mobile browser market, followed by Safari at 31.22%, Samsung Internet at 4.98%, Opera at 1.13%, and Firefox at 0.38%.
This strategic expansion continues Perplexity's pattern of targeting Google's core business segments through advanced AI capabilities. The company already competes directly with Google Search through its AI-powered search assistant, and now with Comet browser, Perplexity aims to leverage artificial intelligence to convince users to switch from Chrome.
Comet Browser's AI Capabilities
Comet distinguishes itself as an agentic AI browser capable of performing numerous tasks autonomously. The browser can summarize content, schedule meetings, send emails, and automate multi-step workflows including product comparisons, form filling, hotel bookings, and various other complex operations that traditionally require manual user intervention.
Security Concerns with AI Browsers
Despite the promising features, researchers from competing browser Brave have identified systematic security vulnerabilities inherent to agentic AI browsers. Through multiple blog posts, Brave researchers demonstrated that these AI browsers remain susceptible to prompt injection attacks.
This security flaw enables hackers to embed malicious commands within invisible webpage text, which AI agents might interpret as legitimate user instructions. Such vulnerabilities could lead to unauthorized actions including email access, bank account infiltration, and exposure of sensitive personal information.
Perplexity's security team has acknowledged the severity of these concerns, stating in a recent blog post that conventional security measures like red team testing won't sufficiently address the problem. The company emphasized that solving these security challenges requires "rethinking security from the ground up" rather than relying on traditional cybersecurity approaches.
As Perplexity expands its AI browser to Android, the company faces the dual challenge of convincing users to switch from established browsers while ensuring robust security measures for its innovative AI-driven functionality.
