(Wired) – Over the past few years, browser developers have integrated AI tools with middling success. Though, in recent weeks, the idea of a web browser enhanced by a baked-in generative AI chatbot has resurged with the release of OpenAI’s ChatGPT Agent and Perplexity’s Comet.

The two releases are quite different in their execution. Comet is a stand-alone browser, so you can use it to surf the web and then summon the AI assistant to help write an email or complete a menial chore. OpenAI built its browsing tool inside of a chatbot; you talk to the chatbot through a web interface to give it tasks, and then the bot runs its own virtual browser inside your browser to complete them.

Both releases can take control of cursors, enter text, and click on links. If this trend takes off, these kinds of AI-powered browsers could transform the internet into a ghost town where agents run amok and humans rarely venture. (Read More)