Perplexity doesnt just want to compete with Google, it apparently wants to be Google.CEO Aravind Srinivas said this week on the TBPN podcast that one reason Perplexity is building its own browser is to collect data on everything users do outside of its own app.
This so it can sell premium ads.Thats kind of one of the other reasons we wanted to build a browser, is we want to get data even outside the app to better understand you, Srinivas said.
Because some of the prompts that people do in these AIs is purely work-related.
Its not like thats personal.And work-related queries wont help the AI company build an accurate-enough dossier.On the other hand, what are the things youre buying; which hotels are you going [to]; which restaurants are you going to; what are you spending time browsing, tells us so much more about you, he explained.Srinivas believes that Perplexitys browser users will be fine with such tracking because the ads should be more relevant to them.We plan to use all the context to build a better user profile and, maybe you know, through our discover feed we could show some ads there, he said.The browser, named Comet, suffered setbacks but is on track to be launched in May, Srinivas said.Hes not wrong, of course.
Quietly following users around the internet helped Google become the roughly $2 trillion market cap company it is today.Thats why it built a browser and a mobile operating system.
Indeed, Perplexity is attempting something in the mobile world, too.
Its signed a partnership with Motorola, announced Thursday, where its app will be pre-installed on the Razr series and can be accessed though the Moto AI by typing Ask Perplexity.Perplexity is also in talks with Samsung, Bloomberg reported.
Srinivas didnt flat-out confirm that, though he did reference on the podcast the Bloomberg article, published earlier this month, that discussed both partnerships.Obviously, Google isnt the only one watching users online to sell ads.
Metas ad tracking technology, Pixels, which is embedded on websites across the internet, is how Meta gathers data, even on people that dont have Facebook or Instagram accounts.Even Apple, which has marketed itself as a privacy protector, cant resist tracking users locations to sell advertising in some of its apps by default.On the other hand, this kind of thing has led people across the political spectrum in the United States and in Europe to distrust big tech.The irony of Srinivas openly explaining his browser-tracking ad-selling ambitions this week also cant be overstated.Google is currently in court fighting the United States Department of Justice, which has alleged Google behaved in monopolistic ways to dominate search and online advertising.
The DOJ wants the judge to order Google to divest Chrome.Both OpenAI and Perplexity not surprisingly, given Srinivas reasons said they would buy the Chrome browser business if Google was forced to sell.