The Early Access Offer

Perplexity’s artificial intelligence browser, Comet, now extends its availability to PayPal and Venmo users who will gain early access to this service free of charge with a Perplexity Pro subscription.

Ryan Foutty, Vice President of Business at Perplexity, describes the AI agent as being like a personal shopper and personal assistant.” This browser integrates an AI chatbot platform, allowing users to receive detailed answers along with source links through queries.

The Agentic Commerce Model

The partnership between PayPal and Perplexity mirrors existing integrations where Perplexity users can now make purchases directly within the platform. This model aligns with the emerging vision of AI agents acting as virtual personal shoppers, though it does not yet enable full autonomous payments.

Christopher Miller, an Emerging Payments Analyst at Javelin Strategy & Research, states that these AI agents could one day find items for purchase, select merchants, and choose payment methods. However, he notes that several technical aspects need resolution before such a system can operate effectively.

Benefits for Both Companies

The agreement will provide significant benefits to both Perplexity and PayPal, including early access to Comet, a free yearlong subscription to Perplexity Pro, and integration with Perplexity’s new subscription hub. These initiatives aim to drive users toward the platform.

Competitive Landscape

The launch of Comet places Perplexity in competition with Google Chrome, despite the company’s significant gap behind ChatGPT and Google Gemini. Notably, Perplexity recently proposed an unsolicited $34.5 billion offer to acquire Chrome, a proposal far below the browser’s current valuation.