Perplexity Computer and Comet: The Agentic Layer

From Answering to Acting

Everything covered so far in this track is about Perplexity finding and synthesising information. Perplexity Computer and Comet are different: they are designed to take actions on your behalf. This is what the industry calls an "agentic" capability — not just telling you what to do, but doing it.

Perplexity Computer

Perplexity Computer, launched in February 2026, is an AI agent that can execute multi-step tasks rather than answer questions. It can navigate web pages, fill in forms, extract data across multiple sites, book things, and complete workflows that would otherwise require you to click through multiple pages yourself.

The key difference from a standard search: Computer takes actions. You describe a task in plain language, and it works through the steps required — choosing which sites to visit, what to click, what to enter — and reports back when it is done.

Example tasks Computer can handle:

• Research five competitors, visit each site, and extract their pricing tiers into a comparison table
• Find available flights between two cities on a given date and summarise the options
• Go to a specific website, fill out a contact form, and confirm submission
• Search across multiple job boards for roles matching a given criteria and compile the results

Computer is available on Pro and Max plans and uses the Brain memory system (covered in the previous lesson) to get better at your specific task patterns over time.

Comet: The AI-Native Browser

Comet is Perplexity's standalone browser — available free on Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android. It is built around Perplexity as its default search and answer engine, but it adds a layer of agentic capability to browsing itself.

Inside Comet, Perplexity is not just a search bar — it is the answer engine that lives within the browser. Every tab, every page you visit, is accessible to the assistant. The key features:

• Agent Mode — A toggle that lets Comet act semi-autonomously. In Agent Mode, it can manage tabs, navigate to pages, and complete tasks on the currently open page on your behalf.
• Tab management — The assistant can summarise open tabs, group them by topic, and help you navigate a large set of open pages.
• Email and calendar assistant — Comet can summarise your inbox, draft replies, and surface upcoming calendar events — all within the browser, without switching to a separate app.
• Page assistant — On any page you visit, you can ask Comet questions about the page's content: "What are the main claims in this article?", "Summarise the key terms of this contract".

How Computer and Comet Fit Together

Computer and Comet address the same need from different angles. Computer is task-oriented: you assign a multi-step task and it runs to completion. Comet is session-oriented: it lives in your browser and assists you as you browse. For heavy automation tasks, Computer is the tool. For a browsing experience that is AI-aware throughout, Comet is the environment.

Both are the newest, most experimental parts of Perplexity's product. Their capabilities will expand significantly in the next 12 months as the agentic AI space develops.