Perplexity first introduced the Comet Assistant in July as an integrated browsing companion—an AI that follows you around the web, answers contextual questions, and performs lightweight tasks.

Now, just four months later, the company is rolling out a major upgrade that transforms Comet from a contextual helper into a persistent, multi-tab agent built for long-running workflows. The new version can stay active for extended sessions, handle more nuanced commands, and deliver results that resemble human-level digital assistance rather than quick query replies.

The upgraded Comet Assistant focuses on one core idea: understanding and acting within real web environments, not just reading static pages.

Perplexity has given Comet Assistant new tools for perceiving and interacting with websites, helping it recognize navigation elements, input fields, and dynamic layouts so it can interpret and act within complex sites more effectively.

While the original version of Comet could already perform browser tasks like clicking and filling out forms, this upgrade makes those actions more reliable, more seamless across multiple tabs, and tied to explicit user permission when it acts directly on websites.

Comet now has:

The result is an assistant that can understand what’s happening on a page in real time—identifying buttons, fields, and objects—and take appropriate actions with greater precision.

This foundation also expands what Comet can do overall. The assistant now supports a broader range of actions across a wider variety of workflows, making it a more capable digital co-worker rather than a passive helper.

One of the most visible upgrades tied to these new capabilities is Comet’s multi-tab coordination—a practical expression of its expanded action set.

In earlier versions, users had to switch back and forth between tabs when a task required multiple data sources. The new Comet Assistant eliminates that friction. It can now view, understand, and interact with several tabs simultaneously, pulling information from one source and applying it to another without losing context.

Example prompts and use cases Perplexity highlights include:

Each one demonstrates how Comet’s upgraded multi-tab coordination supports tasks that span multiple sources and actions, without requiring constant tab switching.

By integrating seamlessly across the user’s browsing session, the new Comet Assistant moves closer to the agentic browser model—one where your AI can perceive, decide, and act across multiple online contexts, just as a human would.

Comet’s internal architecture has also been upgraded to sustain more complex, multi-step actions. In internal benchmarks, Perplexity reports a 23% improvement in successful task execution compared with the July release.

That performance jump matters when workflows require precision—like executing steps in order, transferring data accurately, or assembling structured deliverables such as schedules or reports.

This upgrade also reinforces a consistent design principle for Perplexity: user choice before automation.

When a request requires interacting directly with websites, Comet now explicitly asks the user for permission first. Users can approve or decline, choosing whether Comet should perform the task inside the browser or handle it externally, and it then follows that preference for the duration of the workflow.

Perplexity describes this as a safeguard that maintains transparency and user agency, ensuring that even as the assistant becomes more capable, it never acts without clear consent.

Q: How does this upgrade change what Comet can do?
A: The assistant can now perceive complex web environments, coordinate tasks across multiple tabs, and maintain focus on longer workflows—all while following your preferences for browser control.

Q: What’s “agentic browsing”?
A: It’s a next-generation browsing model where AI agents not only answer questions but perform the resulting tasks—planning, organizing, and acting online much like a digital co-worker.

Q: Is this safe for personal data?
A: Yes. Perplexity built the system to prompt before any in-browser action and preserve user settings, reinforcing its commitment to privacy and transparency.

Q: How much faster or better is the new version?
A: In Perplexity’s internal tests, Comet performed 23% better than the July version on multi-step jobs that require precision and sequencing.

This upgrade isn’t just behind-the-scenes fine-tuning—it’s a productivity game-changer. For you, the person juggling tabs, tasks, and time, the new Comet Assistant means less friction, fewer interruptions, and more flow: a browser assistant that keeps up with how you actually work.

For teams and companies, it opens a new possibility: digital teammates that dive into the stack—research, spreadsheets, job boards, travel sites—and emerge with results instead of asking you to do the manual steps. Imagine sending the assistant off on a mission and getting the outcome you need, without babysitting every click.

For developers and web-platform designers, this marks a turning point. The web is evolving from static pages into interactive workspaces built for AI agents. That evolution means new design standards, new collaboration models, and new expectations for what “browser” even means.

The real excitement comes from what this enables next: when your assistant stops being a reactive responder and starts acting like a collaborative partner, the web itself begins to feel more human—adaptive, intuitive, and genuinely helpful.

As Perplexity’s team puts it, “The world belongs to people who have more questions than answers.” With this upgraded Comet, those questions can now go further—and actually get more done.

Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant used for research and drafting. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.