As Google’s Chrome and DuckDuckGo integrate AI tools into their browsers, Perplexity has launched its own, built with agentic AI capabilities from the ground up—Comet. When perusing products, Comet can take complex natural-language requests and surf review sites, listicles, and news articles to find top options. For users looking for an AI-first experience, Comet is a promising entry that blends active assistance with traditional web functions. However, given Perplexity’s recent scaleback on advertiser initiatives, AI search may not be the next frontier for ad formats. Continuing investments in traditional search options like Google Search is crucial to ensuring visibility.

The news: YouTube launched an AI search function that could streamline the content discovery journey but pose problems for smaller creators and influencers. The feature gives users a carousel of relevant videos in response to their search queries, similar to Google’s AI Overviews. Our take: With YouTube’s vast content library, AI search could help users find relevant content faster, though opacity around how its algorithm surfaces videos means creators may need to experiment with keywords and video titles to see which strategies get their content placed in AI video carousels.

Neon fuses AI search, code generation, and digital agent tools into one browser—aiming to outpace Google by doing the work, not just finding it.

With no ads, no tracking, and deep customization, Kagi is challenging Google’s dominance by offering a $10/month alternative that puts control back in users’ hands.

DuckDuckGo keeps AI search optional, giving privacy-conscious consumers rare control over how, when, or if they see AI-generated answers.

The AI search startup is launching a browser to pull users away from Google—turning its search engine into a full-fledged, AI-powered browsing experience.

Banning Google’s search payments will threaten browser stability, push Apple to adapt, and create openings for competitors like Bing and DuckDuckGo.