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Is Perplexity Comet safe?
Short answer
Perplexity Comet is reasonably safe for everyday browsing, but its AI assistant carries a real risk called prompt injection. Security researchers at Brave and Trail of Bits showed hidden text on web pages could trick it into reading private data, such as Gmail. Perplexity fixed those issues, but the risk is not fully solved. Keep sensitive accounts out of it.
What Comet is
Comet is Perplexity's web browser with an AI assistant built in. It is based on Chromium, the same open source engine as Google Chrome, so most Chrome extensions and sites work. The assistant can summarise pages, compare products, fill in forms and complete tasks across tabs while you are signed in. Perplexity made Comet free to download for everyone on 2 October 2025, with rate limits for free users. It is available on Mac, Windows, iPhone and Android.
Why AI browsers are risky
A normal browser keeps websites apart, so a dodgy site cannot read your email in another tab. An AI assistant breaks that separation because it acts as you, across every site you are logged in to. If it reads instructions hidden on a web page and follows them, an attacker can use it to reach your accounts. This is called indirect prompt injection.
What researchers found
| When | Who | What they showed |
|---|---|---|
| April 2025 (published February 2026) | Trail of Bits, hired by Perplexity before launch | Four prompt injection techniques, such as fake CAPTCHA pages, that made the assistant send Gmail content to an attacker |
| July to August 2025 | Brave | Hidden text in a Reddit comment made Comet grab a login code from Gmail when the user asked for a summary |
| October 2025 | Brave | Nearly invisible text inside images could inject commands when users asked about a screenshot |
Perplexity says it fixed the reported issues, added layered defences, runs a bug bounty and open sourced a detection tool called BrowseSafe in December 2025. Brave's point still stands: this is a problem for every AI browser, not just Comet, and no company has fully solved it.
How to use Comet safely
- Use a separate browser profile for AI tasks. Do not sign in to online banking, HMRC, your accounting software or business admin panels in the profile where you use the assistant.
- Be careful with "summarise this page" on unknown sites, forums and social media, where anyone can post hidden text.
- Watch what the assistant does. Stop it if it opens a site you did not ask for, such as your email.
- Never let it make payments or change passwords on its own.
- Keep Comet updated, because fixes arrive through updates.
- Use two factor authentication on your important accounts, ideally with an authenticator app or passkey rather than email codes.
What to keep out of it
- Client records, payroll and anything covered by UK GDPR. See is Perplexity private?
- Your business bank account and payment platforms.
- Email accounts that hold password reset links for everything else.
Is Comet safe for a small business?
For research, such as comparing suppliers or summarising guidance from GOV.UK, it is useful and low risk. For tasks inside your business accounts, the risk usually outweighs the time saved. If staff want to use it, write a short rule: which profile, which sites, and what never goes in. See can AI agents be trusted?
Common mistakes
- Making Comet your only browser and staying logged in to everything.
- Asking it to summarise a random page while your email is open in another tab.
- Assuming a fixed bug means the whole category of attack is solved.
- Letting it fill in forms with payment details.
Related questions
Is Perplexity Comet free?
Yes. Perplexity made Comet free to download for everyone in October 2025. Comet Plus, a separate news subscription, costs $5 a month or comes with Perplexity Pro and Max.
Is Comet safer than Chrome?
For ordinary browsing they share the same Chromium engine. The extra risk comes from the AI assistant acting for you, which Chrome only has if you use its own AI features.
Does Comet see everything I browse?
The assistant can read the pages you ask it about and, when acting for you, other tabs. Check Comet's privacy settings and Perplexity's privacy policy, and use incognito or a separate profile for sensitive browsing.
Is Comet available in the UK?
Yes. Perplexity offers Comet worldwide, including the UK, on desktop and mobile.
Sources
- Perplexity: Comet
- Perplexity changelog: Comet now available for everyone (2 October 2025)
- Brave: indirect prompt injection in Perplexity Comet
- Brave: unseeable prompt injections in screenshots
- Trail of Bits: using threat modelling and prompt injection to audit Comet
- Perplexity: how we built security into Comet
Checked 18 October 2026. Rules and prices change, so check the source before you rely on it. This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice.
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