• AI初创公司正进军网络浏览器领域，对谷歌（Google）最大的业务之一构成威胁。Perplexity上周推出自有AI浏览器Comet，成为这股潮流的引领者。专家表示，谷歌在AI领域的行动相对迟缓留下了一个突破口，这可能让AI初创公司有机会抢占市场份额。
一大批AI初创公司正在改变我们的网络搜索方式，这个过程正在威胁到谷歌自20世纪90年代末期迅速崛起以来确立的搜索霸主地位。
上周，总部位于旧金山、最新估值达140亿美元的初创公司Perplexity，向部分订阅用户推出了其自研的基于AI的浏览器。据路透社报道，开发ChatGPT的OpenAI公司也在研发自己的AI网络浏览器。
Kindred Ventures（Perplexity的早期投资者）创始人及管理合伙人史蒂夫·张表示，这些AI浏览器直接瞄准了谷歌在搜索领域（尤其是通过其广受欢迎的Chrome浏览器所确立）的主导地位，通过重塑搜索体验，它们有可能颠覆我们所熟知的整个行业。
他对《财富》杂志表示：“在每个技术周期，人们都会质疑新创公司能否以及如何才能击败老牌平台，或者从它们手中夺取可观的市场份额，而它们总是能做到。”
例如，Perplexity的AI浏览器Comet预装了该公司的AI聊天机器人，用于替代搜索。它还包含一个名为Comet Assistant的AI助手，该公司声称它可以自动预订会议、发送邮件、购物，并向你简述当天需要了解的信息。
谷歌前广告产品管理总监阿里·帕帕罗表示，这些AI产品的入场可能恰逢其时，并能利用一个“机遇期”，因为谷歌正面临反垄断案即将带来的补救措施，未来充满不确定性。其中一项补救措施可能包括剥离Chrome浏览器——这正是AI新贵们试图与之竞争的领域。
谷歌未立即回应置评请求。
尽管如此，目前尚不清楚新入局者最终将如何改变搜索市场格局。谷歌Chrome依旧拥有优势：它拥有超过30亿用户，用户基础稳固，约占68%的市场份额，并收集海量用户数据。此外，用户更换浏览器本身也存在不便，这本身就是个挑战。
但在AI使用方面，OpenAI已与谷歌展开正面竞争。韦德布什（Wedbush）近期的一项调查显示，29%的消费者表示经常使用OpenAI，而30%的消费者表示使用谷歌的Gemini。
帕帕罗指出，AI浏览器提供的技术必须明显优于现有产品，才能说服消费者更换产品。
帕帕罗对《财富》杂志表示：“Perplexity或OpenAI的浏览器在哪些方面能做到比谷歌浏览器强大十倍？谷歌已经拥有搜索、AI和浏览器功能。它是一座难以逾越的大山。”
更糟糕的是，据TechCrunch报道，与其他大多数AI平台一样，具备AI功能的Comet在某些情况下仍容易产生“幻觉”。
尽管如此，风投人士张表示，他仍然相信Perplexity团队已做好准备，将取得重大进展。除了Comet，该公司此前还推出了具备语音功能的移动应用程序，并通过Perplexity Labs推出了其独特的高性能AI智能体。
他表示，谷歌或许是搜索领域的巨头，但Perplexity是渴望寻找突破口的新锐挑战者。
他补充道：“技术领域的垄断对于初创公司来说是巨大的机遇，而垄断者注定会受到挑战。”（财富中文网）
译者：刘进龙
审校：汪皓
• AI startups are breaking into the web browser business, posing a threat to one of Google’s biggest businesses. Perplexity, which this week launched its own AI-enabled web browser, Comet, is leading the charge. Experts say Google’s relative slowness on AI has left an opening that could give AI startups a chance of grabbing market share.
A flurry of AI startups are changing the way we search the web and in the process threatening Google’s search dominance in the biggest way since its meteoric rise in the late ‘90s.
This week, Perplexity, a San Francisco-based startup most recently valued at $14 billion, launched its own AI-enabled web browser for select subscribers. OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is also working on an AI web browser of its own, reported Reuters.
These AI web browsers directly aim at Google’s dominance over search, especially through its popular Google Chrome web browser, and have the potential to upend the industry as we know it by reimagining the search experience, said Steve Jang, the founder and managing partner at Kindred Ventures, which was an early investor in Perplexity.
“Every tech cycle, everyone questions whether or not a new startup can—how can they possibly defeat or even get significant market share away from these legacy platforms, and they always do,” he told Fortune.
Perplexity’s AI browser, Comet, for instance, comes with Perplexity’s AI chatbot pre-installed to replace searches. It also includes an AI agent called Comet Assistant, which the company claims can automatically book a meeting or send an email, buy something for you, and brief you on what you need to know for the day.
The entry of these AI products may also be timely and could take advantage of a “window of opportunity,” as Google faces an uncertain future thanks to the impending remedies resulting from its antitrust case, said Ari Paparo, a former director of product management of advertiser products at Google. One such remedy could include spinning off the Chrome web browser that the AI upstarts are trying to compete with.
Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Still, it’s unclear how the search market will ultimately pan out as a result of the new entrants. Google Chrome, for its part, still has an advantage because of its established reach of more than 3 billion users, about 68% of the market, and the massive amount of user data it collects—then there’s the friction involved with switching browsers, a challenge in itself.
But in terms of AI usage, OpenAI is already competing head-to-head with Google. Twenty-nine percent of consumers say they use OpenAI regularly, versus 30% who say they use Google’s Gemini, according to a recent survey by Wedbush.
Paparo said the technology from AI web browsers needs to be significantly better to convince consumers to switch products.
“What is it that a browser from Perplexity or a browser from OpenAI will do that’ll be 10 times better than what Google does? They already have search, they already have AI, they already have the browser. That’s a pretty tough hill to climb,” Paparo told Fortune.
What’s worse, the AI-enabled Comet, like most other AI platforms, is in some cases still prone to hallucinations, TechCrunch reported.
Still, Jang, the VC, said he is still confident the Perplexity team is set up to make major strides. Apart from Comet, the company has also previously launched a mobile app with voice capability and its own take on supercharged AI agents with Perplexity Labs.
While Google may be the giant in search, Perplexity is the eager upstart looking for an opening, he said.
“Monopolies in technology are great opportunities for startups, and by design they are meant to be attacked,” he added.