Sr. Content Developer at Microsoft, working remotely in PA, TechBash conference organizer, former Microsoft MVP, Husband, Dad and Geek.
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Getting Started with Perplexity

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Today we are launching Comet. 

Comet is a web browser built for today’s internet. In the last 30 years, the internet has evolved from something we simply “browse” or “search.” The internet is where we live, work, and connect. 

It’s also where we ask questions. 

Curious minds have questions everywhere, and they find answers on every page, in every idea, through every task. Yet we've been trapped in long lines of tabs and hyperlinks, disjointed experiences that interrupt our natural flow of thought.

In other words, the internet has become humanity's extended mind while our tools for using it remain primitive. Our interface for the web should be as fluid and responsive as human thought itself. 

We built Comet to let the internet do what it has been begging to do: to amplify our intelligence.

From Navigation To Cognition

Comet powers a shift from browsing to thinking. 

Tabs that piled up waiting for your return now join one intelligent interface that understands how your mind works.  Context-switching between dozens of applications, sites, and interfaces has stolen the focus and flow that bring joy to our work and fuel our curiosity. 

The Comet assistant removes friction with every thought, actively conducting entire browsing sessions while you focus on what matters. Ask Comet which other sites have the same bike but ship it faster.  Ask Comet to compare what you’re reading to something you already read.

Comet allows you to ask questions anywhere they occur to you, whether you want to understand a complex concept, find hidden connections, create new possibilities, or solve problems that have been puzzling you.

From Answers To Action

Comet transforms entire browsing sessions into single, seamless interactions, collapsing complex workflows into fluid conversations.

Ask Comet to book a meeting or send an email, based on something you saw. Ask Comet to buy something you forgot. Ask Comet to brief you for your day. 

With Comet, you don't search for information—you think out loud, and Comet executes complete workflows while keeping perfect context. Research becomes conversation. Analysis becomes natural. Annoying tasks evaporate. The internet becomes an extension of your mind. 

From Believability To Accuracy

In the DNA of Comet is Perplexity’s obsession with accurate and trustworthy answers. Answers are the foundation of curiosity for one reason: more knowledge gives us better questions. 

Every day, trillions of dollars of decisions are made online, and the quality of those decisions depends on the reliability of the information behind them. Ask Comet to compare insurance plans. Ask Comet to help you understand a technology enough to decide whether to invest.  

Accurate answers are the foundation of decision-making. This will compound in importance with agentic AI, when assistants make decisions for us, faster and more often. Comet is like a second brain, helping with the best possible decisions in every situation. 

From Consumption To Curiosity

Perplexity’s mission is to serve the world’s curiosity. 

Comet transforms any webpage into a portal of curiosity. Highlight any text to get instant explanations. Explore tangential ideas without losing your original context. Ask specialized questions or broad ones—Comet understands that genuine curiosity doesn't follow predetermined paths.

Ask Comet what you’re missing. Ask Comet for counterpoints. Ask Comet where you should explore.

Curiosity is personal. This allows your own curiosity to become the context for a reliable, proactive, and personalized assistant. 

Comet learns how you think, in order to think better with you. 

From Here To What's Next

Beginning today, Comet is available to Perplexity Max subscribers. 

Invite-only access will roll out slowly to our waitlist over the summer. New users will also receive a limited number of invites to share.

In the meantime, you can join the waitlist here.

It’ll be worth the wait, because Comet is just getting started.

With our own roadmap, and with every new advancement in AI, we will continue to launch new features and functionality for Comet, improve experiences based on your feedback, and focus relentlessly–as we always have–on building accurate and trustworthy AI that fuels human curiosity. The future belongs to the people who never stop asking questions. 

We're curious to see what you'll ask of Comet.

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alvinashcraft
7 hours ago
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As AI reshapes its workforce, Microsoft commits $4 billion to help others adapt

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Microsoft President Brad Smith speaks at a special event Wednesday morning in Seattle announcing the company’s new Microsoft Elevate skilling initiative. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop)

Microsoft is making a $4 billion, five-year commitment to support schools and nonprofits with AI tools and training through a new initiative called Microsoft Elevate, even as its own workforce grapples with the impact of artificial intelligence and the company’s efficiency-driven cutbacks.

The announcement Wednesday morning, during a special event at Seattle’s Museum of History & Industry, underscores the tech giant’s dual role as both a leading force in AI development and a company navigating the disruptive consequences of the technology it’s creating.

“The goal isn’t to build machines that replace us — it’s to build machines that help us do more and do it better,” said Microsoft President Brad Smith in a post announcing the initiative. 

The announcement comes a week after Microsoft confirmed it would cut another 4% of its workforce — about 9,000 jobs globally — as part of a broader efficiency push. Since mid-May, the company has cut about 15,000 jobs worldwide, including over 3,100 in Washington state.

Microsoft hasn’t specifically connected the layoffs to AI, but they come as artificial intelligence reshapes roles across engineering, sales and product teams, and as the company ramps up spending on cloud and AI infrastructure — a record $80 billion in the last fiscal year.

Microsoft Elevate will consolidate the company’s technology support, donations, and sales for K–12 schools, community colleges, technical colleges and nonprofits under one umbrella. 

The company says the $4 billion commitment includes both cash and donations of cloud and AI technology, distributed globally over five years.

The initiative expands on the company’s prior philanthropic work, including its Tech for Social Impact program, with a commitment to reinvest a portion of its profits into nonprofit programs.

Microsoft’s Naria Santa Lucia introduces the Elevate Academy at Microsoft’s event Wednesday morning in Seattle. (GeekWire Photo / Todd Bishop)

As part of the program, Microsoft plans to launch the Elevate Academy, which aims to help 20 million people worldwide earn credentials in AI over the next two years in partnership with LinkedIn, GitHub, and other internal teams. Microsoft says the education and credential programs will range from basic fluency to advanced technical training.

Microsoft’s Naria Santa Lucia said the Elevate Academy will partner with major education organizations, including the American Federation of Teachers and the National Education Association to provide AI training.

The company also announced its new AI Economy Institute, a think tank launched in January to study how AI is reshaping work, education and productivity around the world.

Microsoft says Elevate will support public policies that promote AI education and workforce development, and deepen partnerships with governments, unions, and education providers.

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alvinashcraft
8 hours ago
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OpenAI’s open language model is imminent

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Microsoft's complicated relationship with OpenAI is about to take an interesting turn. As the pair continue to renegotiate a contract to allow OpenAI to restructure into a for-profit company, OpenAI is preparing to release an open language AI model that could drive even more of a wedge between the two companies.

Sources familiar with OpenAI's plans tell me that CEO Sam Altman's AI lab is readying an open-weight model that will debut as soon as next week with providers other than just OpenAI and Microsoft's Azure servers. OpenAI's models are typically closed-weight, meaning the weights (a type of training parameter) aren't available publicly …

Read the full story at The Verge.

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alvinashcraft
8 hours ago
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Perplexity launches Comet, an AI-powered web browser

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Perplexity on Wednesday launched its first AI-powered web browser, called Comet, marking the startup’s latest effort to challenge Google Search as the primary avenue people use to find information online. At launch, Comet will be available first to subscribers of Perplexity’s $200-per-month Max plan, as well as a small group of invitees that signed up […]
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We've got a surprise Pixel Drop for you.

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Here’s what’s new for Pixel:Veo 3 on Pixel: Pixel 9 Pro owners get a full year of our Google AI Pro subscription at no cost, giving them access to the latest features in…
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alvinashcraft
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4 new AI updates on Android coming to Samsung Galaxy devices

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Today at Galaxy Unpacked we announced four AI on Android updates coming to Samsung’s latest devices, including the Galaxy Z Fold7, Z Flip7 and Watch8 series.
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alvinashcraft
8 hours ago
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