Build an Instacart list for a charcuterie board
What makes an AI browser better than a regular browser? Task: What makes an AI browser better than a regular browser? With Perplexity's Comet, that's what I'm trying to find out. Last week, AI search engine company Perplexity launched its highly anticipated browser, which uses the Perplexity search engine and comes with a built-in AI assistant. As AI models become more advanced with chain-of-thought reasoning for handling complex tasks, they're capable of more agentic, or autonomous, work. This is a natural fit for web browsers, which are essentially the gateway to our online lives. An AI web browser like Comet can theoretically do much more than a chatbot tied to a single page or app, enabling actions across multiple tabs and platforms. Perplexity's Comet browser is an early entry, alongside Arc's Dia browser, that seeks to create a new paradigm for browsing and shopping with AI. (OpenAI is also reportedly about to launch its own AI browser). The ability to automate and summarize our experience online has become a major focal point for the AI industry, since it offers the ostensible purpose of speeding up tasks and easing our cognitive load. And the timing for introducing a new browser to compete with Google Chrome and Apple Safari couldn't be better. Google might be forced to sell Chrome after a huge antitrust loss. The ruling also impacts Apple, which received $20 billion a year to make Google the default search engine for Safari. Apple already seems to be making changes to its search offerings, including a potential partnership with Perplexity. That's all to say there's suddenly a lot more opportunity for newcomers like Perplexity to shake up the market. Somewhat ironically, Comet runs on Chromium, Google's open-source browser service. So when I got access, switching over my extensions and settings was pretty seamless. With everything transferred and set up, I dug in to see what Comet can do. I should note that I do have some serious privacy concerns, which I'll explore in a follow-up article Here are the first Comet features I tried out. Agentic grocery shopping and pizza ordering Perplexity touts making an Instacart grocery list as one of the main use cases for Comet's AI assistant. The search engine already offers the ability to buy products listed as search results within the chatbot with a Perplexity Pro account. But shopping with Comet is different since it actually finds the products and adds them to your cart. To challenge Comet, I tried to think of something with a tedious variety of items. I tasked Comet with creating a shopping list for the iconic charcuterie board. That part was easy, since there's no shortage of articles about the artful arrangement of meats and cheeses. Next, I asked Comet to add the items to my Instacart account. Notably, I had to be logged into Instacart, but I didn't have to have the tab open. Within the chat, I watched as the AI assistant shopped in real-time for the items on my list. It even shows a mini screen of what it's doing on the page, and if you click over to the Steps tab, you can watch as Perplexity reasons its way through the grocery store (ShopRite) site via Instacart. I didn't include any specific instructions on particular brands or specifications such as organic or local items, and I noticed that Perplexity defaulted to choosing the least expensive or bestselling item according to ShopRite. Comet defaulted to finding low-priced items marked as "best sellers," which isn't a bad approach without more specific instructions. This is probably a safe bet, but the inner cheese snob in me didn't like the AI assistant making these choices on my behalf. I would've preferred to obsessively compare various cheese brands. For a busy parent in a hurry, though, this could work pretty well. The process took about five minutes to add around 20 items to my cart. When it was done, I clicked to open the Instacart window and found all my items waiting for me. For privacy and security reasons, my AI assistant informed me it wouldn't complete the purchase, so you'd have to do that yourself (for now). How did Comet do with my favorite pastime of ordering pizza? I thought this would be a much simpler task, but it struggled a bit. I have a gluten intolerance, so I asked it to order a gluten-free cheese pizza on Seamless from one of my favorite local spots. Here's where it ran into a roadblock.; tools: Perplexity Comet. Human role: The original post does not say how a person stayed involved.; limitations: Requires a Perplexity Pro subscription ($200/month) and logged-in sessions for target services like Instacart. The AI cannot complete financial transactions, necessitating manual checkout. Performance varies by site structure; complex or non-standard options (like specific dietary crusts) may cause errors or hallucinations. Privacy concerns exist regarding AI access to browsing data and account states..
Tools
Published on Agent Work Atlas:
Overview
What makes an AI browser better than a regular browser?
Workflow
What makes an AI browser better than a regular browser? With Perplexity's Comet, that's what I'm trying to find out. Last week, AI search engine company Perplexity launched its highly anticipated browser, which uses the Perplexity search engine and comes with a built-in AI assistant. As AI models become more advanced with chain-of-thought reasoning for handling complex tasks, they're capable of more agentic, or autonomous, work. This is a natural fit for web browsers, which are essentially the gateway to our online lives. An AI web browser like Comet can theoretically do much more than a chatbot tied to a single page or app, enabling actions across multiple tabs and platforms. Perplexity's Comet browser is an early entry, alongside Arc's Dia browser, that seeks to create a new paradigm for browsing and shopping with AI. (OpenAI is also reportedly about to launch its own AI browser). The ability to automate and summarize our experience online has become a major focal point for the AI industry, since it offers the ostensible purpose of speeding up tasks and easing our cognitive load. And the timing for introducing a new browser to compete with Google Chrome and Apple Safari couldn't be better. Google might be forced to sell Chrome after a huge antitrust loss. The ruling also impacts Apple, which received $20 billion a year to make Google the default search engine for Safari. Apple already seems to be making changes to its search offerings, including a potential partnership with Perplexity. That's all to say there's suddenly a lot more opportunity for newcomers like Perplexity to shake up the market. Somewhat ironically, Comet runs on Chromium, Google's open-source browser service. So when I got access, switching over my extensions and settings was pretty seamless. With everything transferred and set up, I dug in to see what Comet can do. I should note that I do have some serious privacy concerns, which I'll explore in a follow-up article Here are the first Comet features I tried out. Agentic grocery shopping and pizza ordering Perplexity touts making an Instacart grocery list as one of the main use cases for Comet's AI assistant. The search engine already offers the ability to buy products listed as search results within the chatbot with a Perplexity Pro account. But shopping with Comet is different since it actually finds the products and adds them to your cart. To challenge Comet, I tried to think of something with a tedious variety of items. I tasked Comet with creating a shopping list for the iconic charcuterie board. That part was easy, since there's no shortage of articles about the artful arrangement of meats and cheeses. Next, I asked Comet to add the items to my Instacart account. Notably, I had to be logged into Instacart, but I didn't have to have the tab open. Within the chat, I watched as the AI assistant shopped in real-time for the items on my list. It even shows a mini screen of what it's doing on the page, and if you click over to the Steps tab, you can watch as Perplexity reasons its way through the grocery store (ShopRite) site via Instacart. I didn't include any specific instructions on particular brands or specifications such as organic or local items, and I noticed that Perplexity defaulted to choosing the least expensive or bestselling item according to ShopRite. Comet defaulted to finding low-priced items marked as "best sellers," which isn't a bad approach without more specific instructions. This is probably a safe bet, but the inner cheese snob in me didn't like the AI assistant making these choices on my behalf. I would've preferred to obsessively compare various cheese brands. For a busy parent in a hurry, though, this could work pretty well. The process took about five minutes to add around 20 items to my cart. When it was done, I clicked to open the Instacart window and found all my items waiting for me. For privacy and security reasons, my AI assistant informed me it wouldn't complete the purchase, so you'd have to do that yourself (for now). How did Comet do with my favorite pastime of ordering pizza? I thought this would be a much simpler task, but it struggled a bit. I have a gluten intolerance, so I asked it to order a gluten-free cheese pizza on Seamless from one of my favorite local spots. Here's where it ran into a roadblock.
Reported result
The grocery task succeeded, adding approximately 20 items to the cart in about five minutes, though the AI defaulted to cheaper items which may not match specific preferences. The pizza ordering task failed, as the AI could not locate a gluten-free crust option, incorrectly added unrequested extra cheese, and relied on special instructions instead of proper selection. Overall, the tool showed mixed reliability, often requiring significant time for human verification.
Human role
The original post does not say how a person stayed involved.
Limitations
Requires a Perplexity Pro subscription ($200/month) and logged-in sessions for target services like Instacart. The AI cannot complete financial transactions, necessitating manual checkout. Performance varies by site structure; complex or non-standard options (like specific dietary crusts) may cause errors or hallucinations. Privacy concerns exist regarding AI access to browsing data and account states.
Try it
Act as a user testing Perplexity Comet for grocery automation. 1. Ensure you are logged into Instacart and have a Perplexity Pro account. 2. Prompt Comet: 'Create a shopping list for a [replaceable: specific meal type, e.g., charcuterie board] and add these items to my Instacart cart.' 3. Monitor the AI's actions in the Steps tab. 4. Once the AI stops, manually open the Instacart tab. 5. Verify each item for brand, price, and dietary restrictions. 6. Do NOT let the AI checkout; manually review and pay. 7. If the AI fails to find specific items (e.g., gluten-free), note the error and adjust the prompt to specify exact product names or URLs. 8. Report success if the cart matches the list within 5 minutes; report failure if incorrect items are added or if the AI cannot navigate the site.
Source reports are not independently verified. Publication date is the catalog publication date, not the original article date.