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Perplexity to launch AI-powered Comet browser for Windows users

Perplexity to launch AI-powered Comet browser for Windows users

Arab Times5 days ago

NEW YORK, June 23: Perplexity is gearing up to expand access to its AI-driven Comet browser beyond Mac users, with a Windows version now ready for early beta testing. The company's CEO, Aravind Srinivas, announced on the social media platform X that invites have already been sent to select Windows users, signaling a major step toward wider availability.
Originally launched in May as a beta exclusively for Apple Silicon Macs, Comet integrates advanced AI features designed to enhance everyday browsing tasks. Users can interact with the browser through natural language queries, discover discounts on shopping carts, and even uncover overlooked emails. One standout feature, "Try on," allows users to upload their photos and virtually see themselves wearing selected clothing items, highlighting Comet's blend of AI and practical utility.
While no official release date has been set, Srinivas previously hinted at the imminent rollout in a post earlier this month, and he also teased a forthcoming Android version, noting that development is progressing rapidly and ahead of schedule.
Despite the excitement, Comet has not been without controversy. The CEO's remarks in a podcast about collecting data "even outside the app" to better understand users sparked privacy concerns. Srinivas later clarified on X that these comments were taken out of context and reassured users they will have the option to opt out of personalized advertising features.
Once officially launched, Comet will enter a competitive market with rivals like Opera Neon and AI-enhanced browsers from Google and OpenAI. Perplexity's unique agentic search capabilities and integrated AI tools aim to carve out a distinctive place in the evolving landscape of intelligent web browsing.

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Google launches experimental AI mode for users in India
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Google launches experimental AI mode for users in India

NEW DELHI, India, June 24: Google has introduced its experimental AI mode — a Q&A-style search tool — to users in India, the company announced today. The feature, which allows users to interact with search results in a conversational format, is part of Google's Search Labs initiative and requires users to opt in. Once enrolled, users can begin using the tool in English to ask complex, multi-part queries. For instance, a sample query could be: 'My kids are 4 and 7 and have lots of energy. Suggest creative ways to get them active and moving indoors, especially on hot days, without needing a lot of space or expensive toys.' Users can also ask follow-up questions to refine their results. Google did not specify whether support for Indian languages is planned or when such an update might be introduced. The AI mode was initially tested with premium subscribers in the U.S. earlier this year and later expanded to all users following Google's I/O event. Since then, the company has enhanced the tool with features such as shopping integrations, as well as voice and image search support. In India, where voice is a commonly used search method, both voice and image inputs are available for AI mode users. The new feature is powered by a custom version of Google's Gemini 2.5 model. According to the company, early adopters are using it to make queries that are two to three times longer than traditional searches. With over 870 million internet users, India represents one of Google's largest and most diverse markets, making it a key region for testing how multilingual users interact with emerging technologies. Despite maintaining dominance in the search engine market, Google faces rising competition from chat-based AI tools like ChatGPT and Perplexity. With the launch of AI mode, the company aims to retain users who are increasingly drawn to conversational interfaces. In addition to AI mode, Google is promoting features like AI overviews, which summarize results for search queries. In April, the company reported that over 1.5 billion users globally are engaging with these AI-generated overviews. However, a recent Wall Street Journal report noted that some publishers are experiencing declines in traffic due to these AI-driven features.

Perplexity to launch AI-powered Comet browser for Windows users
Perplexity to launch AI-powered Comet browser for Windows users

Arab Times

time5 days ago

  • Arab Times

Perplexity to launch AI-powered Comet browser for Windows users

NEW YORK, June 23: Perplexity is gearing up to expand access to its AI-driven Comet browser beyond Mac users, with a Windows version now ready for early beta testing. The company's CEO, Aravind Srinivas, announced on the social media platform X that invites have already been sent to select Windows users, signaling a major step toward wider availability. Originally launched in May as a beta exclusively for Apple Silicon Macs, Comet integrates advanced AI features designed to enhance everyday browsing tasks. Users can interact with the browser through natural language queries, discover discounts on shopping carts, and even uncover overlooked emails. One standout feature, "Try on," allows users to upload their photos and virtually see themselves wearing selected clothing items, highlighting Comet's blend of AI and practical utility. While no official release date has been set, Srinivas previously hinted at the imminent rollout in a post earlier this month, and he also teased a forthcoming Android version, noting that development is progressing rapidly and ahead of schedule. Despite the excitement, Comet has not been without controversy. The CEO's remarks in a podcast about collecting data "even outside the app" to better understand users sparked privacy concerns. Srinivas later clarified on X that these comments were taken out of context and reassured users they will have the option to opt out of personalized advertising features. Once officially launched, Comet will enter a competitive market with rivals like Opera Neon and AI-enhanced browsers from Google and OpenAI. Perplexity's unique agentic search capabilities and integrated AI tools aim to carve out a distinctive place in the evolving landscape of intelligent web browsing.

Europe seeks ‘digital sovereignty' as US tech firms embrace Trump
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Europe seeks ‘digital sovereignty' as US tech firms embrace Trump

US tech companies still dwarf alternative providers BERLIN: At a market stall in Berlin run by charity Topio, volunteers help people who want to purge their phones of the influence of US tech firms. Since Donald Trump's inauguration, the queue for their services has grown. Interest in European-based digital services has jumped in recent months, data from digital market intelligence company Similarweb shows. More people are looking for e-mail, messaging and even search providers outside the United States. The first months of Trump's second presidency have shaken some Europeans' confidence in their long-time ally, after he signaled his country would step back from its role in Europe's security and then launched a trade war. 'It's about the concentration of power in US firms,' said Topio's founder Michael Wirths, as his colleague installed on a customer's phone a version of the Android operating system without hooks into the Google ecosystem. Wirths said the type of people coming to the stall had changed: 'Before, it was people who knew a lot about data privacy. Now it's people who are politically aware and feel exposed.' Tesla chief Elon Musk, who also owns social media company X, was a leading adviser to the US president before the two fell out, while the bosses of Amazon, Meta and Google-owner Alphabet took prominent spots at Trump's inauguration in January. Days before Trump took office, outgoing president Joe Biden had warned of an oligarchic 'tech industrial complex' threatening democracy. Berlin-based search engine Ecosia says it has benefited from some customers' desire to avoid US counterparts like Microsoft's Bing or Google, which dominates web searches and is also the world's biggest email provider. 'The worse it gets, the better it is for us,' founder Christian Kroll said of Ecosia, whose sales pitch is that it spends its profits on environmental projects. Similarweb data shows the number of queries directed to Ecosia from the European Union has risen 27 percent year-on-year and the company says it has 1 percent of the German search engine market. But its 122 million visits from the 27 EU countries in February were dwarfed by 10.3 billion visits to Google, whose parent Alphabet made revenues of about $100 billion from Europe, the Middle East and Africa in 2024 - nearly a third of its $350 billion global turnover. Non-profit Ecosia earned 3.2 million euros ($3.65 million) in April, of which 770,000 euros was spent on planting 1.1 million trees. Google declined to comment for this story. Reuters could not determine whether major US tech companies have lost any market share to local rivals in Europe. Digital sovereignty The search for alternative providers accompanies a debate in Europe about 'digital sovereignty' - the idea that reliance on companies from an increasingly isolationist United States is a threat to Europe's economy and security. 'Ordinary people, the kind of people who would never have thought it was important they were using an American service are saying, 'hang on!',' said UK-based internet regulation expert Maria Farrell. 'My hairdresser was asking me what she should switch to.' Use in Europe of Swiss-based ProtonMail rose 11.7 percent year-on-year to March compared to a year ago, according to Similarweb, while use of Alphabet's Gmail, which has some 70 percent of the global email market, slipped 1.9 percent. ProtonMail, which offers both free and paid-for services, said it had seen an increase in users from Europe since Trump's re-election, though it declined to give a number. 'My household is definitely disengaging,' said British software engineer Ken Tindell, citing weak US data privacy protections as one factor. Trump's vice president JD Vance shocked European leaders in February by accusing them - at a conference usually known for displays of transatlantic unity - of censoring free speech and failing to control immigration. In May, Secretary of State Marco Rubio threatened visa bans for people who 'censor' speech by Americans, including on social media, and suggested the policy could target foreign officials regulating US tech companies. US social media companies like Facebook and Instagram parent Meta have said the European Union's Digital Services Act amounts to censorship of their platforms. EU officials say the Act will make the online environment safer by compelling tech giants to tackle illegal content, including hate speech and child sexual abuse material. Greg Nojeim, director of the Security and Surveillance Project at the Center for Democracy & Technology, said Europeans' concerns about the US government accessing their data, whether stored on devices or in the cloud, were justified. Not only does US law permit the government to search devices of anyone entering the country, it can compel disclosure of data that Europeans outside the US store or transmit through US communications service providers, Nojeim said. Mission impossible? Germany's new government is itself making efforts to reduce exposure to US tech, committing in its coalition agreement to make more use of open-source data formats and locally-based cloud infrastructure. Regional governments have gone further - in conservative-run Schleswig-Holstein, on the Danish border, all IT used by the public administration must run on open-source software. Berlin has also paid for Ukraine to access a satellite-internet network operated by France's Eutelsat instead of Musk's Starlink. But with modern life driven by technology, 'completely divorcing US tech in a very fundamental way is, I would say, possibly not possible,' said Bill Budington of US digital rights nonprofit the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Everything from push notifications to the content delivery networks powering many websites and how internet traffic is routed relies largely on US companies and infrastructure, Budington noted. Both Ecosia and French-based search engine Qwant depend in part on search results provided by Google and Microsoft's Bing, while Ecosia runs on cloud platforms, some hosted by the very same tech giants it promises an escape from. Nevertheless, a group on messaging board Reddit called BuyFromEU has 211,000 members. 'Just cancelled my Dropbox and will switch to Proton Drive,' read one post. Mastodon, a decentralized social media service developed by German programmer Eugen Rochko, enjoyed a rush of new users two years ago when Musk bought Twitter, later renamed X. But it remains a niche service. Signal, a messaging app run by a US nonprofit foundation, has also seen a surge in installations from Europe. Similarweb's data showed a 7 percent month-on-month increase in Signal usage in March, while use of Meta's WhatsApp was static. Meta declined to comment for this story. Signal did not respond to an e-mailed request for comment. But this kind of conscious self-organizing is unlikely on its own to make a dent in Silicon Valley's European dominance, digital rights activist Robin Berjon told Reuters. 'The market is too captured,' he said. 'Regulation is needed as well.'— Reuters

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