Perplexity's Browser Bet, Apple's Vision Pivot, and the AI Arms Race Gets Academic

This week, Perplexity made a move that's part strategic gambit, part existential hedge. They launched a full AI browser called Comet, and they're giving it away for free. Meanwhile, Apple is shelving its Vision Pro sequel to chase Meta's smart glasses playbook, and MIT unveiled a supercomputer that makes most corporate AI labs look like they're running on dial-up.

Let's break down what these moves signal for enterprise teams trying to navigate the chaos between build, buy, and "wait, do we even understand what we're buying?"

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Comet Crash Lands on Search’s Old Guard

Perplexity just launched Comet, a full-blown AI-native browser, and made it free for everyone. Not a beta or a waitlist; just download it and go. For Pro users, they sweetened the deal with an agentic background assistant that can handle tasks while you work.

Here's the thing: We don’t think this is as simple as Perplexity diversifying its product line. This is a defensive maneuver wrapped in an offensive package.

Why? Because search is under siege. Google's grip on discovery is loosening as AI agents start acting as intermediaries between users and the web. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, they're all answering questions that used to send people to search results pages. Perplexity built its whole identity on being the "answer engine," but answer engines have a problem: they're expensive to run and hard to monetize if users never click through to the web.

Enter the browser. By controlling the interface, Perplexity can integrate AI directly into browsing, shopping, research, and workflow without depending on Google's search dominance or OpenAI's chatbot traffic. Comet includes AI-powered tab management, native ad blocking, and summarization tools baked into the experience. The Pro version adds a background agent that can monitor pages, track changes, and execute tasks autonomously while you're doing something else.

For enterprise teams, this is a signal worth watching. Browsers are becoming the new operating system layer for knowledge work. If your employees are spending half their day in Chrome tabs, toggling between SaaS tools, internal wikis, and Slack threads, an AI browser could collapse that workflow into something far more efficient. The question is whether you want to hand that optimization to a startup with unclear data governance policies.

Here's what makes Comet different:

• Auto-sourcing in the background: While you're browsing, Comet's assistant pulls relevant citations, context, and summaries in real time. Not hallucinated nonsense, actual source-backed answers.

• One search, many tasks: Instead of jumping between tabs, you can search once and Comet builds an explainer, suggests follow-up queries, and helps draft responses or reports.

• Context memory: It remembers what you’re working on and proactively feeds you data. It’s project-aware.

The free tier now includes this core functionality, while Max users ($20/month) get Background Assistant.

Perplexity's pitch is privacy-first: local processing where possible, no third-party tracking, and transparent data handling. But enterprise buyers know the drill. Free consumer tools eventually monetize through data, ads, or ecosystem lock-in. Before you let Comet proliferate across your org, get clarity on where the data lives, how the AI models are trained, and what happens when someone uses it to research sensitive M&A targets or competitive intelligence.

The broader implication: verticalized AI tools are converging. Search engines are becoming browsers. Browsers are becoming agents. Agents are becoming orchestrators. If you're still thinking about AI as a "feature" you bolt onto existing systems, good luck to you. The next generation of enterprise software will be AI infrastructure with human interfaces.

It’s a new category: browser-as-research-analyst.

AI News

1. Apple punts Vision Pro updates to go all-in on AI glasses
   In a rare pivot, Apple is shelving plans to revamp its Vision Pro headset to prioritize a new lightweight AI smart glasses product, designed to challenge Meta's Ray-Ban smart specs. Voice-first interfaces and ambient intelligence are on deck.
   Read more →

2. Markets hit record highs despite political chaos, driven by AI optimism
   The Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all closed at new highs this week, fueled by AI sector gains, even as the government shutdown drags on. The markets seem to be saying: “Congress who?”
   Read more →

3. MIT Lincoln Lab launches most powerful AI supercomputer at any U.S. university
   Called TX-GAIA II, the new system gives researchers 2.3 exaflops of AI processing power, surpassing any university deployment in the U.S. Expect breakthroughs in climate modeling, national defense, and generative science.
   Read more →

TL;DR:

• Perplexity Comet is now free and comes with real-time research automation and contextual memory.

• Max users get Background Assistant, a passive copilot that works across all browsing.

• Enterprise teams should treat Comet like an analyst, not a search engine.

• Apple is pivoting to smart AI glasses, shelving Vision Pro refreshes in favor of ambient, wearable intelligence.

• Markets are bullish on AI, with indices hitting record highs despite a government slowdown.

• MIT just launched an AI supercomputer with unprecedented university-scale power called TX-GAIA II.

That's it for this week. Enjoy your weekend, and we'll see what chaos the AI world cooks up by Monday. Something tells me it won't be boring.

Stay sharp,

Cat Valverde
Founder, Enterprise AI Solutions
Navigating Tomorrow’s Tech Landscape Together