Perplexity’s newly launched artificial intelligence web browser, Comet, was previously available only with a $200-per-month subscription or a special invitation, but now PayPal and Venmo users will gain early access.
Much like ChatGPT, Perplexity created a chatbot platform that users can query to receive detailed answers along with source links. Comet incorporates this functionality into a web browser that also includes an AI assistant. According to Ryan Foutty, VP of Business at Perplexity, the AI agent is akin to a “personal shopper and personal assistant all in one.”
The two firms are leveraging an existing partnership, as PayPal recently gave Perplexity users the capability to purchase products and services directly within the platform. This means a user could chat with a Perplexity AI agent about a theme for an upcoming birthday party, then make purchases without leaving the platform.
The Agent Is Everywhere
The PayPal release stopped short of specifying whether this same functionality would exist within Comet, but the agentic commerce model is gaining significant traction. Visa and Mastercard have launched platforms through which AI agents are designed to be virtual personal shoppers.
However, Mastercard’s Agent Pay and Visa’s Intelligent Commerce platforms have the autonomy to make payments.
“In this vision, the agent is everywhere,” Christopher Miller, Emerging Payments Analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research, told PaymentsJournal. “It’s making your life easier; it’s saving you time; it’s relieving you of the burdens of your side of any transaction. It can find items for you to purchase, it can choose merchants for you to purchase from, and it can select which form of payment you wish to use at any given point in time. There’s a lot behind that vision, and many technical aspects will have to be addressed for a system like that to operate.”
Market and Regulatory Risks
These technical aspects are likely a reason Perplexity and PayPal haven’t unlocked full-blown agentic commerce yet.
However, the partnership could still provide substantial benefits for both companies. In addition to Comet access, PayPal and Venmo users will also receive a free yearlong subscription to Perplexity’s premium tier, Perplexity Pro. The fintech aims to leverage these offers to drive users to its new subscription hub, where they can view, manage, and pay their subscriptions in one place.
These offers will likely draw more users to PayPal’s platform, a feat Perplexity also hopes to achieve, as the AI firm trails ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini significantly. Similarly, the Comet launch pits Perplexity against Google Chrome in what is likely another uphill battle. So far, those odds haven’t deterred Perplexity. The company recently made an ambitious, unsolicited offer to buy Chrome for $34.5 billion, an offer far lower than the leading browser’s valuation.
