For the most part, Google has tried to frame its data collection practices to make them seem noble. Instead of random ads, they want to serve you ads that you actually care about. Wake up, Google. Nobody likes ads, and targeted ads are just worse. But in Perplexity’s case, the company isn’t even being shy about it. During the TBPN podcast, Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas revealed that the reason the company is building its browser is so it can serve users with ads.
Perplexity’s browser for ads
According to Srinivas, “That’s 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. Because some of the prompts that people do in these AIs is purely work-related. It’s not like that’s personal.”
He adds, “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.”
If it sounds like a major invasion of your privacy, it’s because it is. However, it’s actually kind of refreshing that Perplexity is being upfront about it. It’s also not hard to see why the company is heading down that path. Other AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic are hoping to generate revenue through users subscribing to their higher-tier AI services.
It’s not hard to see why
However, in Perplexity’s case, the company seems more interested in following in Google’s footsteps. After all, ads make up the bulk of Alphabet’s revenue. The company recently announced its Q1 2025 earnings. According to the report, revenue from ads rose to over $60 billion. So yes, there is a lot of money to be made from ads, and Perplexity knows it.
The company has also been following in Google’s footsteps in other ways. For instance, the recently announced Motorola Razr smartphones come with AI integration. Perplexity’s AI is one of the available models. This is similar to how Google is integrating Gemini into Android and how it worked with Samsung to co-develop some Galaxy AI features.
Perplexity is also not alone in seeing the lucrative nature of browsers. Google is currently undergoing an antitrust trial where, if it loses, it could be forced to sell off Chrome. OpenAI has expressed its interest in buying the browser if that were to happen.
Perplexity’s browser, named Comet, is currently on track to launch in May.
2025-04-25 15:05:08