Aravind Srinivas-led Perplexity’s $34.5bn Chrome bid: Are browsers the next AI battleground?
The surprise $34.5 billion offer from artificial intelligence start-up Perplexity to buy Google’s Chrome browser may or may not be a long shot, but it points to a far bigger shift in the tech landscape: the internet browser is fast becoming the new battleground for AI dominance.
From search gateway to AI launchpad
Chrome, used by an estimated 3.5 billion people worldwide, is not just a gateway to the web; it is increasingly a prime channel for shaping how users interact with technology. While the browser’s role has traditionally been to connect people to search engines, AI firms now see it as a direct on-ramp to their own services, bypassing search altogether.
Comet: Perplexity AI’s early experiment
Perplexity has already dipped its toes into this territory with Comet, its own experimental browser that places an AI assistant at the heart of the experience. Queries typed into its address bar are answered by AI rather than through a conventional web search. For now, Comet’s reach is negligible compared with Chrome’s market share of more than two-thirds on both desktop and mobile, but an acquisition could change that overnight.
The potential transformation is clear: if an AI-driven browser became the default for billions of users, it could reset entrenched habits around information-seeking and online discovery. Search engines and the advertising businesses built around them, would lose their dominance, replaced by AI models capable of delivering tailored answers instantly.
The Antitrust Battle
This is why Perplexity’s bid, however improbable, carries symbolic weight. It challenges Google’s assertion in its antitrust defence that Chrome would wither if separated from the company, while also revealing the stakes for the AI sector. Competitors understand that owning the user’s entry point to the internet could prove decisive in the coming years.
A Bloomberg report notes that Chrome’s true value may be far higher than Perplexity’s proposed price, with estimates stretching to $100 billion. But even without a realistic path to acquisition, the move signals that browsers, long considered stable, almost commoditised software, are now strategic assets in the race to own the future of online interaction.
(With inputs from Bloomberg)
