Perplexity made major strides this week — launching
its browser app Comet for iOS with Google as the default search engine, and medical and health search features that will gain support and feedback from a newly formed Perplexity Health Advisory
Board.
The board will help ensure that the company’s future product decisions remain focused.
Aravind Srinivas, Perplexity CEO, explained in an X post the reason that Google became the
default search engine on the iOS Comet app.
“Comet iOS is finally ready,” Srinivas wrote. “Thanks for those who waited patiently for it. Appreciate your support!”
Perplexity chose Google for its ability to quickly navigate smartphone searches, specifically local, for restaurants, shops, sports scores, and other services.
Comet for iOS has
Perplexity’s AI assistant directly in the browser. The assistant summarizes pages, answers questions, and follows through with tasks such as making a restaurant reservation.
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Comet
supports Perplexity’s Deep Research feature that can ingest information from multiple web sources and provide summaries. The Comet Assistant can complete web-based tasks such as summarizing emails,
searching for products, comparing prices across websites, and more.
Perplexity also announced Thursday its Computer platform running on Mac mini now connects to a user’s health apps,
wearable devices, lab results, and medical records. Users can build personalized tools and applications with your health data, or track everything in your health dashboard.
The company also
announced the Perplexity Health Advisory Board — a small group of practicing physicians, researchers, and health technology leaders who will help ensure the company’s future product decisions,
content quality, patient safety, and clinical workflows reflect evidence-based medicine.
The board will advise Perplexity on the safeguards and product experiences that define responsible
health information from AI.
The first four board members, with more to come, include Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist, scientist, professor and EVP at Scripps Research; Dr. Devin Mann, a
professor of population health and medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine and the strategic director of digital health innovation at NYU Langone Health; Dr. Wendy Chung, the Mary Ellen Avery
Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and the Chief of the Department of Pediatrics at Boston Children’s Hospital; and Tim Dybvig, a health technology founder and operator who brings
deep experience building patient-facing tools and health infrastructure.
