I very rarely diss other people’s work, but Arc/Dia is a perfect example of that. It’s a wolf in sheep’s clothes, without any clarity regarding their business model.
Apple should acquire Perplexity - it's a pretty great product and combined with some privacy enhancements it's a win, and they could likely integrate it better than Google could with Gemini.
I was gifted a pro subscription for a year and after trying it for a few weeks I instead signed up for an Anthropic Claude subscription (which I pay $20 / month for) and I use that all the time.
I would assume basic functionality would be included but advanced functionality would require a subscription to Apple One (or whatever it's called now).
So I wouldn't describe them as kind and benevolent, more that they want to make products people will pay for.
Videos from Perplexity as well as YouTubers show what it's supposed to do: provide you an interface to simplify your research, evaluation, and execution of written instruction.
For example: you're supposed to tell it to do something like, "plan my week for me including make me a menu plan, setup a grocery list and add everything I need to it, shop the list and allow me to pick it up on Sunday afternoon, and, in the meantime, plan for me 2 days of things to do." And supposedly, it will do all of these things for you automatically. I haven't tested it, but it basically this is intended to do all the things we've hoped AI would help us do--automatically. Will it be successful? Probably a bit better than we've come to expect, but it's nothing like we have built up in our minds.
AI has been game changing for me in my work life, but I have yet to find it useful for things like I laid out above. Maybe that's changing and this is the first step toward that future.
It's kind of wild how the west draws this distinction:
If China does it while being responsible and taking into account cost/benefits on overall human well being, it's Creepy Big Brother Communism.
If the US does it and charges money for it (or makes it 'free' by selling your personal info to untrustworthy companies / selling you junk you don't need) it's an innovative futuristic privilege.
Cold War propaganda was incredibly effective through generations.
edit: changed "If China does it for free" to "If China does it" since it had some distracting assumptions
Can you give an example of what China produces for free to the benefit of overall human well being, as well as instances of people calling Comet "an innovative futuristic privilege?"
no one in this thread is calling the tracking in this innovative. Additionally the government doesn't do anything for "free", if you make 200k a year you are paying $8k/mo or $10/hour just to live in the USA.
> no one in this thread is calling the tracking in this innovative
I didn't say otherwise. But clearly Perplexity (and Google etc) feels there is a market fit for this, so I'm referring to those customers and whatever future customers might come. This is also nothing new. See: basically all existing social media and its consequences.
> Additionally the government doesn't do anything for "free"
I reworded this since it wasn't the point, and had some assumptions made about usage.
Yeah. However wild some of the "America is the land of the free, China is a hellhole" takes are, there is a difference between a tracking system designed to try to sell you holidays and a tracking system used to identify political dissidents.
We just launched an open-source alternative -- you can download today; use local LLMs with ollama and not pay $200/month.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44523409
Whats the outlook for Linux with that
Wow, $200/month for the privilege of being monetized and tracked even more closely than Chrome does. Sounds like a real winner.
Can't say I have much trust in any of these recent AI company launched browsers.
They have a proven track record of not respecting people's data...
I very rarely diss other people’s work, but Arc/Dia is a perfect example of that. It’s a wolf in sheep’s clothes, without any clarity regarding their business model.
Not sure if it's the perfect example. Pretty sure Arc was shady before it had any AI stuff.
Recent and related:
Perplexity Comet - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44513769 - July 2025 (52 comments)
Comet Browser by Perplexity - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44511527 - July 2025 (14 comments)
I've always wanted a browser with a subscription fee
don't let your dreams be dreams
https://www.aol.com/products/browsers/desktop-gold
I wonder how many people pay that just for the nostalgia. Do they have the "you have email" voice?
I see multiple comments decrying the browser price.
Have we collectively forgotten how to read?
The browser is not $200/mo. It's available for free to those on the Max plan now, and will be rolling out to other plans.
I imagine users on all those plans get some value out of Perplexity other than the browser.
Comet, you say?
Free slogan, courtesy of Joe MacMillan: “Search it, find it, comet”
:)
AI isn't the thing, it's the thing that gets us to the thing
Comet, it makes your teeth turn green...
One of the best shows I've ever watched.
Perplexing indeed.
I don’t get it. Didn’t they launch this already a few month ago?
You’re probably thinking of The Browser Companies Dia Browser (replaced Arc). Came out last month, same AI focus.
Maybe off-topic, but there are lots of rumors flying - will Apple acquire Perplexity?
As I understand it they don't even make any competitive foundational models themselves? Isn't that the kind of talent Apple is after?
Apple should acquire Perplexity - it's a pretty great product and combined with some privacy enhancements it's a win, and they could likely integrate it better than Google could with Gemini.
> it's a pretty great product
Is it?
I was gifted a pro subscription for a year and after trying it for a few weeks I instead signed up for an Anthropic Claude subscription (which I pay $20 / month for) and I use that all the time.
What am I missing about Perplexity?
Not just Perplexity but Anthropic as well, which would my preference.
Is Apple supposed to be one of the kind and benevolent megacorporations?
No public company can be "benevolent"
Apple still makes 10s of billions a year letting Google be the default search, they have a vested interest in maintaining that revenue.
Plus whatever "values" they have will go right out the window if the golden iphone shaped Goose ever stumbles.
I would assume basic functionality would be included but advanced functionality would require a subscription to Apple One (or whatever it's called now).
So I wouldn't describe them as kind and benevolent, more that they want to make products people will pay for.
We do not need any more big-tech concentration than we already have, rather less.
Use case for LLM-infested Chromium wrapper?
Track everything users do and sell the data.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44523226
Videos from Perplexity as well as YouTubers show what it's supposed to do: provide you an interface to simplify your research, evaluation, and execution of written instruction.
For example: you're supposed to tell it to do something like, "plan my week for me including make me a menu plan, setup a grocery list and add everything I need to it, shop the list and allow me to pick it up on Sunday afternoon, and, in the meantime, plan for me 2 days of things to do." And supposedly, it will do all of these things for you automatically. I haven't tested it, but it basically this is intended to do all the things we've hoped AI would help us do--automatically. Will it be successful? Probably a bit better than we've come to expect, but it's nothing like we have built up in our minds.
AI has been game changing for me in my work life, but I have yet to find it useful for things like I laid out above. Maybe that's changing and this is the first step toward that future.
IMO this is not a true launch, just a beta only available to those who pay top dollar.
Imagine paying $200/mo for this privacy nightmare
Right after the "launch", most of the people that are praising the browser are either employees, paid influencers or fans of the CEO.
I am yet to see a normal "non-tech" person use Perplexity after being a longtime ChatGPT user.
Perplexity CEO says its browser will track everything users do online to sell ‘hyper personalized’ ads
https://techcrunch.com/2025/04/24/perplexity-ceo-says-its-br...
A web browser which tracks everything you do and you have to pay for the privilege…
It's kind of wild how the west draws this distinction:
If China does it while being responsible and taking into account cost/benefits on overall human well being, it's Creepy Big Brother Communism.
If the US does it and charges money for it (or makes it 'free' by selling your personal info to untrustworthy companies / selling you junk you don't need) it's an innovative futuristic privilege.
Cold War propaganda was incredibly effective through generations.
edit: changed "If China does it for free" to "If China does it" since it had some distracting assumptions
Can you give an example of what China produces for free to the benefit of overall human well being, as well as instances of people calling Comet "an innovative futuristic privilege?"
https://old.reddit.com/r/stupidpol/comments/1lvoi0x/theres_a...
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/38242135-ai-superpowers
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44523917
no one in this thread is calling the tracking in this innovative. Additionally the government doesn't do anything for "free", if you make 200k a year you are paying $8k/mo or $10/hour just to live in the USA.
> no one in this thread is calling the tracking in this innovative
I didn't say otherwise. But clearly Perplexity (and Google etc) feels there is a market fit for this, so I'm referring to those customers and whatever future customers might come. This is also nothing new. See: basically all existing social media and its consequences.
> Additionally the government doesn't do anything for "free"
I reworded this since it wasn't the point, and had some assumptions made about usage.
I think it's worth pointing out that in China it is the government doing it, whereas in the US it is private companies (in this particular context).
Um, obviously? You seem to have missed the point.
People ought to be most interested in the final outcome of each example.
Yeah. However wild some of the "America is the land of the free, China is a hellhole" takes are, there is a difference between a tracking system designed to try to sell you holidays and a tracking system used to identify political dissidents.
This reads like the onion
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Ah. Well this explains why they didn't go with the pitch that AI can be a sufficient adblocker, which strikes me as the obvious use of AI.
Just pitching to VCs...why would any person want that?
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