Last week was a monumental one.

If you didn’t hear, Perplexity introduced Comet, which is an AI-powered browser and ChatGPT released Agent, which can intelligently browse the internet and perform tasks.

Both are going to change the way we work and change our reliance on Google Chrome, Apple Safari and Microsoft Edge.

Here’s What Perplexity Comet and ChatGPT Agent Can Do.

Perplexity Comet

I got access to Perplexity Comet last week (thanks for the invite, Avi Hacker) and gave it a try.

I will say at first it felt…the same as Chrome.

But I soon found out that that’s the point. Perplexity wanted it to feel exactly like what everyone is already used to, which is a smart strategy (I talked about this type of behavior shift on LinkedIn recently).

Not only does it look like Chrome, when you sign it, it literally syncs all of your Chrome (or Safari or Edge) favorites, saved websites, etc. All of the data gets copied over to the Chrome look alike, making it feel natural and familiar.

But now the differences come into play. Instead of this being a Google search powered browser, it’s powered by Perplexity (duh).

And if you know me, you know I stopped using Google search about six weeks ago and replaced it with Perplexity search because I think it’s so much better..

Some additional key features:

• Connect your email and calendar and have Perplexity do multiple cool things

• AI Assistant- ask the assistant to view your current web page and summarize everything in it, which is my favorite part (see some examples below).

• It can fill out forms, book reservations, compare products, and shop online for you.

Takeaways:

• I still want to play around with it more and develop the muscle but just like how I wasn’t in love with some of my favorite albums of all time on the first listen, I need to give Comet more time.

• Only available to Pro users at $200 a month currently but will be available on the $20 a month subscription soon.

Now.. ChatGPT Agent.

ChatGPT stole Perplexity’s thunder by releasing Agent a few days after Comet came out.

OpenAI’s leadership team had a live fireside chat this past Thursday, which you can watch here: Introduction to ChatGPT agent

ChatGPT Agent isn’t really a new browser that you have to download.

This new feature moves ChatGPT from merely an assistant to now an agent that can autonomously perform actions online, not just provide information.

You access it through ChatGPT, just like you would for Deep Research or Image Creator, by selecting Agent. 

So instead of opening up a browser and typing something in, you type whatever you want into ChatGPT (like you do now) and ChatGPT accesses its own local computer to complete the task. 

And it gives you a front row to seat to its work.

OpenAI essentially upgraded their system by creating a combination of Operator (its AI agent that can autonomously complete tasks like send emails) with Deep Research (its other AI Agent, which can complete in-depth analysis on anything).

Basically, Operator was missing skills Deep research had (like reading long articles) and Deep Research was missing skills Operator had (like interacting with websites).

So they combined the two.

Key features and use cases:

• Using “Connectors”, ChatGPT agent can securely access and use services like Gmail, Google Drive, and more (after you authorize it). This system can summarize emails, generate calendar briefings or create reports from multiple sources.

• You can ask the agent to do pretty complex things like “help me create an underwriting model based off of this Offering Memorandum” or “please create a map

• Deep Research lacked the ability to log into authenticated websites (think your CoStar login). Now with Agent, it can do so.

• Generate and deliver editable slide decks and spreadsheets

Takeaways:

• I haven’t got access to this yet as it’s only available to Pro users ($200 a month) but I’m much more excited for Agent than Comet (for now). It will be released to Plus users ($20 a month) any day now.

• The idea that I can finally tell ChatGPT to do things on my behalf (100x more than just connecting things like through Claude’s MCP network) is really compelling. This feels like it’ll be (or is on the path to being) a true AI Analyst that I’ve been dreaming of.

Here’s a summary:

But this is a Real Estate AI Newsletter so let me try to bring it to our Industry. 

How to use Perplexity Comet and ChatGPT Agent as a Real Estate Professional.

Example #1: Using Comet to analyze my property’s competitors.

Example 2: Search DropBox by asking the Comet Assistant to tell me information I need (instead of opening up sub-folder after sub-folder, opening up the file and scrolling for the info).

Example 3: ChatGPT Agent (I don’t have screenshots yet- should have this in a week).

If you like what you read, please forward this to your friends/co-workers!

Jonathan

Founder, The IndustrAI